--- description: More than 1,600 homes have been evacuated as firefighters battle the quick-moving blaze in the foothills of southern California's San Bernardino Mountains. There has been no official announcement about what started the fire title: Southern California Wildfire Spreads Amid High Winds image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte40fea85cbdb5e0f/69868d4ae53aba5b804d25c0/wildfire-california.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Disaster](/tag/disaster/) ## Disaster Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # High Winds Spread California Wildfire  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 30, 2014 9:27 PM CUT  A long exposure image of embers flying off burnt out trees following the wind driven wildfire ranging in the mountain area near Rancho Cucamonga late on April 30, 2014. A long exposure image of embers flying off burnt out trees following the wind driven wildfire ranging in the mountain area near Rancho Cucamonga late on April 30, 2014.Stuart Palley—EPA  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 30, 2014 9:27 PM CUT _Updated: Thursday, 5:15 a.m. E.T._ A wildfire moving [through](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fire-forces-school-home-evacuations-california "undefined") the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California has grown to cover 1,000 acres (404 hectares), four times larger than the size previously reported by authorities. At least [1,650 homes](http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=weather/wildfire%5Fcenter&id=9522087 "undefined") have been evacuated because of the blaze, including several neighborhoods and at least seven schools in parts of Rancho Cucamonga, population 165,000, near Los Angeles. Wind gusts of 60 m.p.h. (97 km/h) have helped to spread the blaze, the Associated Press reports. There has been no official announcement about what started the fire, though a recent heat wave made the area particularly vulnerable. \[[AP](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fire-forces-school-home-evacuations-california "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/83373/california-wildfire-spreads/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/83373/california-wildfire-spreads/"},"headline":"High Winds Spread California Wildfire","datePublished":"2014-04-30T21:27:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:35:38.194Z","description":"More than 1,600 homes have been evacuated as firefighters battle the quick-moving blaze in the foothills of southern California's San Bernardino Mountains. There has been no official announcement about what started the fire","url":"https://time.com/83373/california-wildfire-spreads/","keywords":["Disaster","California","Wildfire","los angeles"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte40fea85cbdb5e0f/69868d4ae53aba5b804d25c0/wildfire-california.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte40fea85cbdb5e0f/69868d4ae53aba5b804d25c0/wildfire-california.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A long exposure image of embers flying off burnt out trees following the wind driven wildfire ranging in the mountain area near Rancho Cucamonga late on April 30, 2014.","caption":"A long exposure image of embers flying off burnt out trees following the wind driven wildfire ranging in the mountain area near Rancho Cucamonga late on April 30, 2014.","creditText":"Stuart Palley—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/disaster/","name":"Disaster"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/83373/california-wildfire-spreads/","name":"High Winds Spread California Wildfire"}}]}] ```