By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Deadly wind-driven brush fires roared out of the foothills and canyons on the northern fringe of Los Angeles on Monday, destroying about 30 mobile homes and threatening hundreds more dwellings.
In Southern California's first big fires of the season, a homeless man was found dead with his dog beneath a highway overpass swept by flames, authorities said.
Another person was killed in a collision on a freeway engulfed in smoke as police scrambled to shut down the road.
The first of two blazes erupted early on Sunday on the edge of the Angeles National Forest and by midday on Monday had charred roughly 5,000 acres of tinder-dry brush and chaparral.
Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 1,200 residents from some 450 homes threatened by flames and embers fanned by gale-force Santa Ana gusts blowing in from the high desert, as smoke billowed into the air.
A separate brush fire flared on Monday in the foothills to the west and quickly consumed 2,000 acres, prompting the evacuation of hundreds more homes.
"It's a very dangerous situation," said Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman as he warned residents to heed evacuation orders. "You may not even be able to outrun the fire if you're that close to it."
More than 1,000 firefighters battled the flames, along with helicopters and planes dropping water and fire retardants. Continued...
Santa Ana wind conditions as seen from space.
Two large wildfires burn uncontrolled north of Los Angeles, California. The blazes, known as the Marek fires, have burned over 3700 acres and caused the evacuation of more than 1200 people. Furthermore, at least 30 mobile homes were destroyed.

One confirmed fatality has been reported and described as an unidentified transient who had been using a cardboard shelter beneath a freeway overpass. However, the ''Associated Press'' reports a second related death from a traffic accident.

Authorities expect to order more evacuations before the fires can be brought under control.

Fires started Sunday due to Santa Ana wind conditions in the San Fernando Valley and Angeles National Forest on the northern outskirts of Los Angeles. Affected communities include Porter Ranch and the Lopez Canyon area.



Santa Ana winds as strong as 65 miles per hour fanned the flames, which jumped the eight-lane 210 Freeway. Both the 210 Freeway and 118 Freeway were closed during Monday morning rush hour. Firefighters have contained smaller blazes that occurred elsewhere in Southern California near the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita and in neighbouring Ventura County.

Local resident Glenn Bell told ''Reuters'' about his last minute evacuation.  "The sparks were flying down on us," he said, recalling how a locked gate nearly trapped him and his family, "and as I'm busting the gate... I see the cypress trees that are right next to our house on fire."

Los Angeles County fire inspector Frank Garrido described the problem as "a blowtorch we can’t get in front of," according to ''The New York Times''. "Wind is king here, it’s dictating everything we are doing," he continued.

Scott Stephens of the Center for Fire Research & Outreach at the University of California, Berkeley calls Southern California's Santa Ana winds "some of the strongest, most severe fire winds in the world."

Among the problems caused by Santa Ana winds, which blow from the nearby Mojave Desert toward the Pacific Ocean, is a tendency for hot embers to leapfrog and start new fires.  Santa Ana conditions tend to occur from autumn through spring and can reach peak speeds of 70 miles per hour (113 kilometers per hour).