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By David K. Li
Wildfires from Malibu to rural lands nearly 500 miles to the north continued to rage Friday, as California authorities reported the first fatalities from the devastating blazes.
Five people burned to death in their cars as they tried to get away from flames in the Camp Fire, according to the Butte County Sheriff's Office.
The deaths happened near Edgewood Lane in Paradise, California, officials said. Nearly the entire town of Paradise was wiped out in the Camp Fire.
"The preliminary investigation revealed that the victims were located in vehicles that were overcome by the Camp Fire," according to a statement from the sheriff. "Due to burn injuries, identification could not be immediately made."
Thousands of Golden State residents were on the move, feeling the Camp Fire, about 90 miles north of Sacramento, the Hill Fire in Thousands Oaks and the Woolsey fire along the Los Angeles-Ventura County line.
Thousands of homes are being threatened from the three fires touched off on Thursday and were still going a day later.
The Woolsey Fire
Large areas of the city of Malibu were under evacuation orders on Friday morning.
This blaze just outside of Simi Valley, along the border of Los Angeles, broke out at about 3:30 p.m. PT (6:30 a.m. ET) Thursday and had quadrupled in size by Friday morning as it consumed at least 8,000 acres.
Los Angeles County fire Chief Deputy David Richardson said he expects 45,000 Ventura County residents and 43,000 from L.A. County to evacuate by the end of Friday night.
Strong winds are pushing the fire south and west, toward exclusive communities in Malibu Canyon and Agoura Hills. The flames even jumped US Highway 101 and approached Malibu.
"The wind-whipped conditions ... this is ripe conditions for explosive fire behavior," said Los Angeles fire Capt. Erik Scott told NBC Los Angeles. "This is the new normal. When we have conditions like this, when it's such incredible wind, that brings us into a different caliber, so it's become a much more challenging condition."
Reality show figure Khloe Kardashian, who lives near the fire zone in Calabasas, said she hasn't been ordered to evacuate yet, but is getting ready, tweeting: "I’m getting no notifications but the reports I’m getting from the news tell a different story."
At least 20 homes have been destroyed so far and 75,000 more homes were under mandatory or voluntary evacuation on Friday, officials said.
Pepperdine University in Malibu canceled classes on Friday and told students who live on campus to report to Firestone Fieldhouse, where the school's basketball teams normally play.
The school was already in mourning for 18-year-old student Alaina Housley, who shot to death late Wednesday night at the Borderline Bar and Grill in the Thousand Oaks.
The Camp Fire
More than 70,000 acres have been charred so far by that blaze that's prompted the California National Guard to send 100 guardsmen to help evacuations, authorities said.
Almost all structures in the small unincorporated town of Paradise, with a population of 27,000, have been destroyed, officials said.
"The town is devastated, everything is destroyed," Cal Fire Capt. Scott McLean said. "There's nothing much left standing."
The blaze moved west overnight and was threatening the eastern edges of Chico, where up to 90,000 residents were preparing to move if necessary on Friday. Cal State Chico, with more than 16,000 students, canceled all classes on Friday.
“This was a rapidly moving fire,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. “And it moved very very quickly from a rather remote area to populated areas.”
Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, who is acting governor while the incumbent, Jerry Brown, is out of state, called a state of emergency in Butte County.
The Hill Fire
The idyllic bedroom community Thousand Oaks, already reeling from Wednesday night's mass shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill, is now also contending with the Hill Fire, which has blackened more than 10,000 acres by Friday morning.
The blaze broke out at about 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET) Thursday and by Friday was threatening the Naval Air Station Point Mugu in Oxnard and the campus of Cal State Channel Islands in Camarillo.
This blaze is consuming the same area devastated by the Springs Fire of 2013, which ultimately burned 24,000 acres.
"The wind is definitely pushing this thing toward the ocean just like the Springs Fire a few years ago,” Ventura County Fire Capt. Brian McGrath told the Los Angeles Times. "It’s very fast."
"The Office" actor Rainn Wilson said early Friday he had to evacuate but said the Borderline shooting was still weighing heavily on his mind.
"My House has been evacuated due to nearby fires in Thousand Oaks. (The pigs & dogs are fine, thank you) Please send your prayers to the people of Thousand Oaks and the victims of the shooting that are now having to evacuate their homes and neighborhoods. Then send them some cash," he tweeted.
CORRECTION: (Nov. 9, 2018, 12:18 p.m. ET) An earlier version of this article included incorrect evacuation information that had been distributed by Malibu officials. Large areas of the city are under mandatory evacuation, but not the entire city. The updated information was included in a revised Twitter post from the city.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed.
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