A wind-whipped wildfire in the San Fernando Valley grew to nearly 5,000 acres overnight, damaging dozens of homes and prompting swift evacuations for more than 100,000 people.
Nearly 13,000 homes near the San Fernando Valley were under mandatory evacuation orders due to the so-called Saddleridge Brush Fire, which had ballooned from 60 acres to 4,700 in about 11 hours, officials said Friday. The fire was 0 percent contained at about 8 a.m.
Low humidity and high winds were fueling the fire, which was moving at about 800 acres an hour, Los Angeles Fire Department Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said during a Friday morning news briefing.
The affluent neighborhood of Porter Ranch was under mandatory evacuation orders, as were Granada Hills and Sylmar.