Southern California wildfire grows from 50 acres to over 1,000 acres in just hours

A brush fire was quickly moving across parts of Southern California on Thursday, spurring evacuations of the area as fire officials worked to put out the blaze.

The Canyon Fire broke out on Thursday afternoon east of Lake Piru in Ventura County, earlier estimated at about 50 acres, before spreading to more than 1,000, according to fire officials.

The fire began burning north of Highway 126 east of Los Angeles County before it later spread into the county, officials said.

Evacuations were ordered for the Lake Piru Recreation Area and parts of the surrounding area.

An evacuation warning was issued for ranches in the west end of Holser Canyon, NBC 4 reported.

Parts of Los Angeles County also had evacuation orders and evacuation warnings.

“The Canyon Fire is currently burning between Los Angeles County and Ventura County in the Piru Lake area. Several zones are under evacuation order and warning,” the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

Water-dropping aircraft responded to the blaze, as firefighters were using Lake Piru, a reservoir in Los Padres National Forest northwest of Los Angeles, to refill firefighting aircraft, NBC 4 reported.

The Canyon Fire was one of at least four burning in Southern California on Thursday.

It was not clear what caused the fires in the Golden State.

This comes after multiple wildfires swept across Southern California at the beginning of the year, burning more than 50,000 acres and destroying more than 18,000 homes and structures.

At least 30 people were killed and roughly 200,000 were forced to evacuate.

More than 4,400 wildfires have been reported in California this year, an increase from 3,800 at this time last year, according to NBC 4.

More than 221,100 acres have burned this year, exceeding the 83,200 acres burned through July of last year