Ventura, USA - Dec 6, 2017
1. Relief center renovated from Judge William P. Clark Livestock Center
2. Relief workers transporting make-shift beds
3. American Red Cross vehicle at site
4. Various of people carrying bottled water to relief center
5. People wearing masks
6. Evacuees at relief center
7. Various of American Red Cross staff members at center
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Fred Mariscal, relief worker:
"Overnight we have over 600 people. We're going to be here helping these residents cope with this situation. We're going to offer them three meals a day. We're going to offer them all the basic needs and emotional support."
9. Various of evacuees, relief workers at center
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Lakexes, resident in Lake Casitas (no full name given; partially overlaid with shot 11):
"Since we live in Lake Casitas the fire was burning as I was at work. I worked in Ojai, a 12-hour shift. So as soon as I got home, I was told that the Santa Paula brush fire brushed onto Lake Casitas and the fire was non-stop and the fire started behind my house. So I'm not too sure about my house right now. And we had to be evacuated. I only had 45 minutes to grab everything for my little girls. So it's been really hard on me. It's been very terrible, and I know a lot of people have lost their homes. I just hope that our home is still there."
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
11. Evacuees, relief workers at center
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12. Evacuees at center
13. Washroom building
14. Various of evacuees, relief workers at center
15. Various of center exterior

A number of relief centers have been set up in Ventura County, one of the worst-hit areas by a fast-moving wildfire in Southern California, for the residents who have been displaced in mass evacuations.

One of the relief centers in Ventura, about 110 km northwest of Los Angeles downtown, was renovated from the Judge William P. Clark Livestock Center at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

Hundreds of make-shift beds with blankets were provided to the evacuees. Used clothes were piled up in the warehouse for the evacuees to make through the cold night. Food and drinking water was constantly delivered to the center by relief workers.

"Overnight we have over 600 people. We're going to be here helping these residents cope with this situation. We're going to offer them three meals a day. We're going to offer them all the basic needs and emotional support," said relief worker Fred Mariscal.

Lakexes, a resident living in the Lake Casitas area, was evacuated with her family right after the blames reached the area. She said the situation had been really bad for her family as she didn't have enough time to retrieve the clothes and necessities for her two kids before the evacuation.

"Since we live in Lake Casitas the fire was burning as I was at work. I worked in Ojai, a 12-hour shift. So as soon as I got home, I was told that the Santa Paula brush fire brushed onto Lake Casitas and the fire was non-stop and the fire started behind my house. So I'm not too sure about my house right now. And we had to be evacuated. I only had 45 minutes to grab everything for my little girls. So it's been really hard on me. It's been very terrible, and I know a lot of people have lost their homes. I just hope that our home is still there," said Lakexes.

California's governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in Ventura as the fast-moving brush fire exploded to around 45,500 acres, destroying hundreds of homes and prompting 27,000 people to evacuate.

The blaze, dubbed the Thomas Fire, broke out Monday evening in the area of Thomas Aquinas College and Stekel Park, both in the city of Santa Paula, and then burnt along both sides of Highway 150, which was subsequently closed by the authorities.

Pushed by powerful winds, the fires have grown dramatically in size within a few hours after they broke out, threatening both Santa Paula and Ventura.

A number of fires have been wreaking havoc in Southern California. Besides the Thomas Fire, another blaze erupted Wednesday in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, near iconic landmarks like the U.C.L.A. campus and the Getty Museum. The fire, dubbed the Skirball Fire, burned up to the edges of the 405 freeway, the country's busiest highway carrying about 400,000 vehicles a day, according to reports.