Los Angeles wildfire spreads to 5,000 acres amid Western heatwave

Published:
Heavy black smoke rises as a wildfire burns dozens of acres in the Tujunga area of Los Angeles, seen from nearby Burbank, Calif., Friday afternoon, Sept. 1, 2017. RICHARD VOGEL / AP

LOS ANGELES (CBS) Firefighters in Los Angeles are working to contain a blaze that chewed through brush-covered mountains just north of downtown, growing to nearly 8 square miles and prompting mandatory evacuations for several hundred homes.

The La Tuna Fire has burned more than 5,000 acres in Burbank with containment at just 10 percent, CBS Los Angeles reports.

Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted Saturday writing that it is the largest fire by acreage in the city’s history.

No injuries have been reported and no buildings burned in the blaze, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said Saturday.

Heat that has afflicted the entire Western United States made conditions tough for firefighters in the region.

While temperatures could hit 100 degrees in the fire area, they’re projected to peak even higher in parts of Northern California.

In Sacramento, temperatures are expected to shoot past 110 on Saturday. Forecasters said areas inland from the San Francisco Bay Area could reach 115, a temperature last seen in 1950.

The heat has peaked for Southern California, but parts of Northern California are set to see it soar some more.

Temperatures that reached 108 in Sacramento on Friday are expected to shoot past 110 on Saturday as a sweltering week continued.

Areas inland from the San Francisco Bay Area could reach 115, a temperature last seen in 1950, forecasters said.

San Francisco itself saw one of the hottest days in its history Friday at 106 but is now expected to recede into its usual cool-and-foggy summer pattern with dramatic temperature drops into the 80s then the 70s.

Triple-digit temperatures in the Los Angeles area are expected to drop into the 90s for the weekend, before falling more dramatically next week.

The weeklong heat wave generated by high pressure over the West extended up the coast and into the mountain states.

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