As flooding from Hurricane Francine ravages parts of the US gulf coast, three major wildfires are burning in Southern California, endangering tens of thousands of homes and other structures.

California is only now heading into the teeth of the wildfire season, but already has seen nearly three times as much acreage burn than during all of 2023.

Apocalyptic-looking plumes of smoke filled skies east of Los Angeles on Tuesday as firefighters battled one of the wildfires that erupted amid a blistering triple-digit heat wave.

Evacuation orders were expanded as the fires grew and included parts of the popular ski town of Big Bear and the entire community of Wrightwood, with about 4,500 residents. Authorities implored people to leave their homes.

Janice Quick, president of the Wrightwood Chamber of Commerce, said, “I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve been through fires before.”

Resident Alex Luna saw the sky turn from a cherry red to black in about 90 minutes as the explosive wildfire raced toward Wrightwood and added, “It was very, I would say, hellish-like. It was very just dark. Not a good place to be at that moment. … Ash was falling from the sky like if it was snowing.”

In neighbouring Orange County, firefighters used bulldozers, helicopters and planes to control a rapidly spreading blaze called the Airport Fire that started Monday and spread to about 8 sq. km. in only a few hours. The blaze was ignited by a spark from heavy equipment being used by public workers, officials said, adding that more than 80 sq. km. had already been charred.

Meanwhile, in the San Bernardino National Forest, some 65,600 homes and buildings were under threat by the Line Fire.

In Northern California, a fire measuring less than 2.6 sq. km. started Sunday burned at least 30 homes and commercial buildings and destroyed 40 to 50 vehicles in Clearlake City, 117 km. north of San Francisco, officials said. Roughly 4,000 people were forced to evacuate by the so-called Boyles Fire, which was only 50% contained Tuesday night.

Several other major fires are burning across the West, including in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada, where about 20,000 people had to flee a blaze outside Reno.