California wildfires spread in southern part of state

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Tonight, the race to contain a wildfire outbreak now raging across California.

[00:00:06]In Simi Valley, the Sandi fire repeatedly flaring up, keeping more than 40,000 people under mandatory evacuations. They got to learn to control and then within an hour or two, the winds picked up. The fire now expanding to more than 1,600 acres. So far, one home gutted by flames.

[00:00:25]More than 800 firefighters on the front lines trying to keep it that way. This is the fire line. We hiked with crews in treacherous terrain working around the clock to keep the hot spots down. This is incredibly dry fuel. That's why I say this fire is still has so much potential. And you can see the air attack behind me. Crews trying to knock out these flames dropping water on problem and hot spots, those flare-ups, so they can avoid it from encroaching into the community.

[00:00:52]To the east in Riverside County, a cluster of brush fires broke out even spawning this smoke NATO. Residents on roofs scrambling to save their homes.

[00:01:01]We've never had anything come this close.

[00:01:04]The state's largest fire burning some 40 miles off the California coast chewing through the largely uninhabited Santa Rosa Island. Authorities are investigating if it may have been sparked when a 67-year-old sailor was left stranded after crashing against the rocky shore then shooting emergency flares into the island's bone dry brush.

[00:01:22]The sailor even carving an SOS into the ground awaiting rescue as the flames scattered.

[00:01:30]Tom, this time of day is when the flare-ups happen. You can see what's happening in the canyon behind me, those thick plumes of white smoke. That's because there is columns of fire in that canyon. Firefighters doing all they can to knock that out. Fixed-wing aircraft using water drops, using retardant drops to try to make sure the communities down here stay safe because it really only takes one ember for this fire to spread.

[00:01:51]Tom.

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