Over 130 homes lost in California wildfire: officials

Camarillo, United States: More than 130 homes are now known to have been destroyed by a raging wildfire burning outside Los Angeles, as a break in the...

Camarillo, United States: More than 130 homes are now known to have been destroyed by a raging wildfire burning outside Los Angeles, as a break in the weather on Friday gave firefighters a chance to tame the blaze.

Hurricane-strength winds that battered the area this week fuelled an explosion in the Mountain Fire near Camarillo, which grew rapidly to over 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares).

Thousands of people in the path of the inferno were forced to flee, some describing how they had only minutes to gather crucial possessions and pets as unpredictable flames leapt from home to home.

Linda Fefferman said she knew she had to go when she smelled smoke.

"I'm trying to load the car with animals and important papers, my oxygen concentrator, and when it got too smoky for me, I knew I had to get out," she told a local broadcaster.