Californians post haunting bushfire images as evacuations ordered (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

Hundreds of residents were ordered to evacuate their properties as a 200-acre bushfire broke out in San Jacinto, California. Alarmed locals have been sharing extraordinary images of the blaze online.

Mandatory evacuations were enforced by local authorities for more than 60 homes and 200 people after the bushfire erupted at about 6pm local time Saturday. By 11:30pm, the blaze had grown rapidly, torching more than 200 acres with only 10-percent containment, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

Some 235 firefighters were deployed to the blaze, dubbed the ‘Horseshoe Fire’, along with two air tankers and one helicopter. No injuries have so far been reported. 

The latest wildfire comes as California continues to battle its biggest wildfire of 2019. Nearly 2,000 firefighters are tackling the Walker Fire that’s already burned more than 50,000 acres in the Plumas National Forest, northeast of Sacramento. 

Damage caused by California wildfires has grown five-fold over the past 40 years. NASA says the increase in wildfires is indicative of climate change and warned that they will become more common and harder to stop as we live in a warmer and drier climate. 

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