SANTA PAULA, California, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Over ten

thousand people were ordered to evacuate communities northwest

of Los Angeles as fierce seasonal winds drove a wildfire down

tinder-dry hillsides into ranches and homes, authorities said.

Firefighters and police cleared residents from neighborhoods

near Camarillo before homes were set ablaze by embers blown two

miles (3.2 km) from the fire front, Ventura County fire

department Captain Tony McHale said by phone from near the

blaze.

"It's like trying to put out a blowtorch with a squirt

gun," said McHale of the fire which began in a hillside canyon

on Wednesday then tore west, driven by Santa Ana winds.

Fueled by abundant grass and scrub, with wind gusts up

to 80 mph (130 kph), the blaze has burned over 14,500 acres

(5,900 hectares), authorities said.

Climate scientists say warming temperatures have created wet

winters that allow California's coastal chaparral - small trees,

shrubs and bushes - to thrive. Record-high temperatures this

summer have turned hillsides into unlit bonfires.

Several civilians were injured and a significant number of

homes, businesses and other structures destroyed, McHale said,

adding that it was too dangerous to enter the area to assess

damage.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said the fire threatened

3,500 structures.

Schools in Ventura County were closed through Friday due to

the fires, according to the county's office of education.

The fire expanded in size on Wednesday after powerful winds

came into contact with very dry air.

Southern California Edison began shutting off power

to customers in areas where its equipment was considered at high

risk of sparking a wildfire, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The United States is experiencing a strong wildfire year

with 8.1 million acres burned to date, compared with an annual,

full-year average of around 7 million acres over the last

decade, according to National Interagency Fire Center data.

California wildfires have so far this year burned more than

three times as much land as last year at this time when the

state's fire season was more benign, according to Cal Fire data.