In the south of the American state of California near the city of Los Angeles, severe forest fires have continued for about two days. According to CNN, more than 5 thousand hectares of land have already been engulfed in fire. The spread of fire is facilitated by strong dry winds. The fire is already approaching the suburbs of Los Angeles.

People are being evacuated from settlements caught in the fire zone: by mid-day on Saturday, about 2 thousand people had left their places of residence. Despite the efforts of firefighters to prevent the fire from entering the city, four houses, several cars and car trailers and one watercraft have already burned down. In addition, a forest service helicopter burned down, which due to technical problems was forced to land in the fire zone.

Firefighters and rescue services are using special equipment to fight the fire; more than two thousand people are involved. However, they are hampered by weather conditions, in particular, strong winds: according to meteorologists, it should increase significantly, and therefore all firefighting aircraft were forced to stop flying.

The situation is under the control of California Governor Gray Davis, who has not yet formally transferred authority to the recently elected Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The fires are believed to have started on Tuesday but went undetected for two days until the fire began to be fanned by strong winds. An investigation into the cause found the fire was likely not caused by natural causes or an accident, the U.S. Forest Service said. Investigative authorities suspect that it was a deliberate arson.

Southern California is engulfed in fires: arson is suspected