5,000 firefighters battling 14 large wildfires in California

Smoke is illuminated by the Whittier wildfire near Santa Ynez, California, US, July 8, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

LOS ANGELES - Californian Governor Jerry Brown issued a state of emergency for Butte County Sunday afternoon as a wildfire coded "Wall fire" threatened 5,400 homes.

Roughly 1,100 personnel are battling the fire, which began last Friday afternoon and scorched rapidly 2,000 acres (8.09 square km) by Saturday afternoon.

Since it is burning near a community of Oroville, the county seat of Butte, 780 km north from Los Angeles, more than 4,000 people have been ordered to evacuate from the area and an additional 7,400 were also placed under evacuation warnings as of 2 pm Sunday (2100 GMT).

The blaze is one of 14 wildfires across California being battled by approximately 5,000 firefighters Sunday, according to an update report about California fire incidents Sunday afternoon.

The largest of the fires currently raging in California is the Alamo fire in San Luis Obispo County, which grew to cover almost 24,000 acres (97.12 square km) from more than 19,000 acres (76.89 Square km) Saturday afternoon.

In the southern neighboring Santa Barbara County, the Whittier Fire jumped across State Route 154 and grew to about 7,800 acres (31.56 square km) Sunday, with only 5 percent contained.

According to the report of NBC, about 80 people at Circle V Ranch Camp in Santa Barbara County, most of them children, were evacuated and reunited with their families later in a "rescue operation" Sunday, who were forced to stay put and take shelter Saturday night as acres of forest burned.

The fires in southern California burned amid record-setting heat. Highs were expected to remain above 90 Fahrenheit degrees (32.2 Celsius) throughout the week.