Wind-driven fire in Southern California destroys numerous structures in mobile home park

Buildings on fire at the Villa Calimesa Mobile Home Park in Calimesa, California.

(Image credit: KABC-TV via AP)

A blaze fueled by high winds and dry air swept through a mobile home park in Calimesa, California, on Thursday afternoon, destroying several structures and causing "numerous medical emergencies," the Riverside County Fire Department said.

By Thursday evening, the fire had burned more than 500 acres and was at zero percent containment. Riverside County Fire said the blaze was sparked by embers that landed in vegetation after a garbage truck dumped burning trash, NBC News reports. This is not the only fire in the area — a blaze in nearby Moreno Valley has scorched more than 100 acres.

High winds had been forecast for much of the state, and both Pacific Gas & Electric, serving Northern and Central California, and Southern California Edison said they would cut power to customers over concerns that downed lines could spark fires. PG&E shut off electricity to hundreds of thousands of customers on Wednesday, while SCE waited until Thursday, with the outage affecting about 13,000 people. Californians are being encouraged to prepare for possible blackouts, and have emergency kits ready and extra cash on hand.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.