Record heat and two fast-moving wildfires prompted evacuations in southern California Saturday as about 1,000 firefighters struggle to contain the blazes. The Whittier Fire is in Los Padres National Forest, north of Los Angeles. It was started by a vehicle fire Saturday afternoon and spread across 5,400 acres in a matter of hours.
The nearby Alamo Fire has grown to nearly 20,000 acres. "Low humidity, high heat, and the winds are right — and there's just a lot of stuff to burn," said a Santa Barbara County representative. Neither fire has destroyed any buildings so far.
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