22 Jun 2016

Two huge Californian wildfires threaten to merge

8:52 am on 22 June 2016

Two rapidly growing wildfires that have forced the evacuation of more than 700 people outside Los Angeles, are threatening to merge.

The blazes come as California and other southwestern states bake in an early Northern summer heat wave.

The US Forest Service said the fires, both raging in Angeles National Forest, more than doubled in size overnight and were entirely unconfined.

It said one fire, called the Fish Fire, had grown to 1200 hectares while the other, dubbed the Reservoir Fire, stood at about 970 hectares.

The fires were burning just over 30 kilometres northeast of downtown Los Angeles.