Overnight Southern Calif. blaze forces evacuations

In Southern California, a brush fire near Redlands triggered a small evacuation overnight Wednesday into Thursday as it grew to about 100 acres (40 hectares). It was about 30% contained.

The fire comes as hot weather continues across Southern California, with temperatures in some areas expected to reach 100 degrees Thursday and not expected to cool down until the weekend, according to a KABC-TV report.

More than 8,500 wildfires have burned more than 6,400 square miles (16,000 square kilometers) in California since the start of the year. Most have occurred since mid-August. Thirty-one people have died, and more than 9,200 buildings have been destroyed.

Hot winds gusting to 55 mph were expected to heighten the threat of blazes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, which has already seen some of the worst wildfires in state history. The National Weather Service issued heat advisories through Friday, with temperatures expected to reach triple digits in many parts of the state.

The weather prompted California’s electrical grid operator to issue a statewide Flex Alert urging people to conserve energy between 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday by turning down air conditioners and not using major appliances. Previous conservation efforts this summer were praised for reducing the power demand and avoiding rolling blackouts after an August outage caught many people off guard.