(NEW YORK) — Extreme heat is heading to both coasts, bringing dangerously high temperatures to the Northeast, Northwest and Southwest.
In the Northeast, heat alerts are in place for parts of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and upstate New York.
Parts of Maine could reach record-high temperatures on Monday, with Caribou forecast to hit 95 degrees. Manchester, New Hampshire, and Burlington, Vermont, could each break daily record-high temperatures on Tuesday, potentially hitting 97 degrees and 93 degrees, respectively.
In New York City, an air quality alert is in effect on Monday as the temperature rises. The alert is due to the hot weather trapping human-made air pollution, not wildfire smoke from Canada.
The West is also facing extreme heat.
In the Northwest, heat alerts are in place through Tuesday for Portland, Oregon; Seattle and Spokane, Washington. Temperatures are forecast to hit 99 degrees in Portland and Sacramento, California, and 107 degrees in Medford, Oregon.
In the Southwest, cities including Las Vegas and Phoenix are under extreme heat warnings, with temperatures expected to climb as high as 113 or 114 degrees through Tuesday. And in Death Valley, California, the temperature could reach a scorching 122 degrees on Monday and Tuesday.
A woman was killed and five other people were hurt when gunfire erupted early Sunday at a large outdoor gathering on Chicago’s West Side – one of three separate shootings to occur in the same neighborhood in fewer than three hours, according to police.
The shooting occurred just before 2:48 a.m. local time on North La Cross Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, according to an incident report from the Chicago Police Department.
“Officers responded to a call of a large gathering and found multiple people shot,” police said in the report.
When officers arrived at the scene they found six people suffering from gunshot wounds, officials said.
A 22-year-old woman was discovered with a gunshot wound to the back and was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago, where she was pronounced dead, police said. The victim’s name was not immediately released.
Five other people suffered gunshot wounds in the incident, including two 18-year-old boys and a 17-year-boy. One of the 18-year-old victims was shot in the chest and left arm. Police said he was in critical condition at Stroger Hospital in Chicago, while the 17-year-old sustained a gunshot wound to the left thigh and was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in critical condition. The other 18-year-old was treated at the scene for a graze wound to his left hand, police said.
A 29-year-old man shot in the right leg was also in critical condition at Loretto Hospital in Chicago, according to police.
The shooting also left a 29-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to her right elbow, according to police, who said she was taken to Rush Hospital in good condition.
No arrests had been announced as of Sunday afternoon. A motive for the shooting remains under investigation, according to police.
At least two other shootings occurred in the same Chicago neighborhood on Sunday morning. Police have not said if the shootings are related.
About three blocks from the North La Cross Avenue mass shooting, an 18-year-old boy was shot in the back on West Maypole Avenue at about 4:37 a.m. and later died at Stroger Hospital, police said. A second 18-year-old boy was also shot in the arm during the shooting, according to police.
The two teenagers were shot after getting into an argument with a gunman who fired at them from a vehicle, police said. No arrests have been announced.
About an hour before the mass shooting on North La Cross Avenue, police responded to a reports of shots fired about a block away on North Lamon Avenue and found a 20-year-old woman suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to her arm, according to police. The woman was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where she was in good condition, police said. No arrests have been announced.
The Chicago shootings occurred less than a day after one person was killed and five others wounded, including a 5-year-old girl, in a mass shooting at an outdoor gathering in Baltimore, Md. A motive for that shooting remains under investigation, according to police.
(LONDON) — Ukrainian forces are increasing the intensity of long-range drone strikes deep into Russia, according to data released by Moscow, ahead of Friday’s planned meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported downing another 59 Ukrainian drones overnight into Monday morning, with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reporting that at least nine craft were shot down en route to the capital.
Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, reported temporary restrictions on flights at airports in Penza, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaluga, Volgograd and Saratov during the overnight attacks.
Monday’s figures bring the total number of long-range Ukrainian drones claimed shot down by Russian forces in August to 1,337 — with a daily average of more than 121 drones each day.
Moscow only provides data on the number of drones it claims to have shot down, and not the overall number of Ukrainian craft launched. Neither Ukraine nor Russia provide public information on the scale of their own cross-border drone attacks.
In July, the total number of Ukrainian drones claimed downed over the course of the month was 3,008, with an average of just over 97 craft per day.
Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 100 drones into Ukraine overnight into Monday morning, of which 70 were intercepted or suppressed.
Thus far in August, the intensity of Russian strikes on Ukraine appear to have eased. The first 11 days of this month have seen Moscow launch a daily average of 74 drones and one missile into Ukraine, compared with record-breaking July figures of 201 drones and around six missiles per day.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his officials have said Kyiv will continue and expand its long-range strikes in an effort to force Moscow to the negotiating table.
“They in Russia must clearly feel the consequences of what they are doing against Ukraine,” the president said in a statement posted to Telegram in May. “And they will. Attack drones, interceptors, cruise missiles, Ukrainian ballistic systems — these are the key elements. We must manufacture all of them.”
It is not clear whether Zelenskyy will attend Friday’s summit in Alaska. There, Trump and Putin are expected to discuss proposals to secure a ceasefire and potentially to end Russia’s full-scale invasion, which it launched in February 2022.
Zelenskyy has insisted that any negotiations must include Ukraine. Kyiv will also not officially cede any territory, accept limitations on its armed forces, or jettison its ambitions to join NATO and the European Union, Zelenskyy has said.
Putin, though, is demanding that Ukraine cede several regions — not all of which are controlled by Russian troops — in the south and east of the country, accept curbs on the size and sophistication of its military and be permanently excluded from NATO.
Russia’s demands, Zelenskyy has said, constitute an attempt to “partition Ukraine.”
Speaking from the White House on Friday, Trump suggested a settlement could include “some swapping of territories.”
Zelenskyy swiftly rejected the proposal, saying Ukraine “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”
On Monday, Zelenskyy appealed for more pressure on the Kremlin. “Russia is prolonging the war and therefore deserves stronger pressure from the world,” he wrote on Telegram.
“Russia refuses to stop the killings and therefore should not receive any rewards or benefits,” he added.
(BALTIMORE) — Six people are dead after a house fire broke out in Waldorf, Maryland, early Sunday morning, officials said.
Around 8:40 a.m., the Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department and several surrounding departments responded to a report of a dwelling fire with entrapment.
The victims were two adults and four children, according to officials. There were nine residents who lived at the house; one adult escaped and two others were not home at the time of the fire.
The origin of the fire remains under investigation, but there was no evidence of a criminal act, the Maryland State Fire Marshal said in a post on X.
“In Charles County, we do have fires every now and then, but with the loss of life, that this is … this is pretty devastating,” said Bill Smith, Charles County Volunteer Fire and EMS public information officer.
Pablo Alcala/Lexington Herald-Leader/Tribune News Service via Getty Image
(WASHINGTON) — Ten years after the Supreme Court extended marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide, the justices this fall will consider for the first time whether to take up a case that explicitly asks them to overturn that decision.
Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for six days in 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses to a gay couple on religious grounds, is appealing a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages plus $260,000 for attorneys fees.
In a petition for writ of certiorari filed last month, Davis argues First Amendment protection for free exercise of religion immunizes her from personal liability for the denial of marriage licenses.
More fundamentally, she claims the high court’s decision in Obergefell v Hodges — extending marriage rights for same-sex couples under the 14th Amendment’s due process protections — was “egregiously wrong.”
“The mistake must be corrected,” wrote Davis’ attorney Mathew Staver in the petition. He calls Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in Obergefell “legal fiction.”
The petition appears to mark the first time since 2015 that the court has been formally asked to overturn the landmark marriage decision. Davis is seen as one of the only Americans currently with legal standing to bring a challenge to the precedent.
“If there ever was a case of exceptional importance,” Staver wrote, “the first individual in the Republic’s history who was jailed for following her religious convictions regarding the historic definition of marriage, this should be it.”
Lower courts have dismissed Davis’ claims and most legal experts consider her bid a long shot. A federal appeals court panel concluded earlier this year that the former clerk “cannot raise the First Amendment as a defense because she is being held liable for state action, which the First Amendment does not protect.”
Davis, as the Rowan County Clerk in 2015, was the sole authority tasked with issuing marriage licenses on behalf of the government under state law.
“Not a single judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals showed any interest in Davis’s rehearing petition, and we are confident the Supreme Court will likewise agree that Davis’s arguments do not merit further attention,” said William Powell, attorney for David Ermold and David Moore, the now-married Kentucky couple that sued Davis for damages, in a statement to ABC News.
A renewed campaign to reverse legal precedent Davis’ appeal to the Supreme Court comes as conservative opponents of marriage rights for same-sex couples pursue a renewed campaign to reverse legal precedent and allow each state to set its own policy.
At the time Obergefell was decided in 2015, 35 states had statutory or constitutional bans on same-sex marriages, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only eight states had enacted laws explicitly allowing the unions.
So far in 2025, at least nine states have either introduced legislation aimed at blocking new marriage licenses for LGBTQ people or passed resolutions urging the Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell at the earliest opportunity, according to the advocacy group Lambda Legal.
In June, the Southern Baptist Convention — the nation’s largest Protestant Christian denomination — overwhelmingly voted to make “overturning of laws and court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, that defy God’s design for marriage and family” a top priority.
Support for equal marriage rights softening While a strong majority of Americans favor equal marriage rights, support appears to have softened in recent years, according to Gallup — 60% of Americans supported same-sex marriages in 2015, rising to 70% support in 2025, but that level has plateaued since 2020.
Among Republicans, support has notably dipped over the past decade, down from 55% in 2021 to 41% this year, Gallup found.
Davis’ petition argues the issue of marriage should be treated the same way the court handled the issue of abortion in its 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade. She zeroes in on Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurrence in that case, in which he explicitly called for revisiting Obergefell.
The justices “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote at the time, referring to the landmark decisions dealing with a fundamental right to privacy, due process and equal protection rights.
“It is hard to say where things will go, but this will be a long slog considering how popular same-sex marriage is now,” said Josh Blackman, a prominent conservative constitutional scholar and professor at South Texas College of Law.
Blackman predicts many members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority would want prospective challenges to Obergefell to percolate in lower courts before revisiting the debate.
The court is expected to formally consider Davis’ petition this fall during a private conference when the justices discuss which cases to add to their docket. If the case is accepted, it would likely be scheduled for oral argument next spring and decided by the end of June 2026. The court could also decline the case, allowing a lower court ruling to stand and avoid entirely the request to revisit Obergefell.
“Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett seem wildly uninterested. Maybe Justice Neil Gorsuch, too,” said Sarah Isgur, an ABC News legal analyst and host of the legal podcast Advisory Opinions.
“There is no world in which the court takes the case as a straight gay marriage case,” Isgur added. “It would have to come up as a lower court holding that Obergefell binds judges to accept some other kind of non-traditional marital arrangement.”
Ruling wouldn’t invalidate existing marriages If the ruling were to be overturned at some point in the future, it would not invalidate marriages already performed, legal experts have pointed out. The 2022 Respect for Marriage Act requires the federal government and all states to recognize legal marriages of same-sex and interracial couples performed in any state — even if there is a future change in the law.
Davis first appealed the Supreme Court in 2019 seeking to have the damages suit against her tossed out, but her petition was rejected. Conservative Justices Thomas and Samuel Alito concurred with the decision at the time.
“This petition implicates important questions about the scope of our decision in Obergefell, but it does not cleanly present them,” Thomas wrote in a statement.
Many LGBTQ advocates say they are apprehensive about the shifting legal and political landscape around marriage rights.
There are an estimated 823,000 married same-sex couples in the U.S., including 591,000 that wed after the Supreme Court decision in June 2015, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School. Nearly one in five of those married couples is parenting a child under 18.
Since the Obergefell decision, the makeup of the Supreme Court has shifted rightward, now including three appointees of President Donald Trump and a 6-justice conservative supermajority.
Chief Justice John Roberts, among the current members of the court who dissented in Obergefell a decade ago, sharply criticized the ruling at the time as “an act of will, not legal judgment” with “no basis in the Constitution.” He also warned then that it “creates serious questions about religious liberty.”
Davis invoked Roberts’ words in her petition to the high court, hopeful that at least four justices will vote to accept her case and hear arguments next year.
(LONDON) — The Al Jazeera media company said in a Sunday statement that five of its journalists — including prominent correspondent Anas Al Sharif — were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent housing reporters in Gaza City.
Fellow correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa and their assistant Mohammed Noufal were also killed in the attack, Al Jazeera said.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it targeted Sharif, claiming the correspondent headed a Hamas cell and was involved in rocket attacks against Israeli targets.
Sharif was one of the best-known journalists reporting from Gaza, with millions of social media followers. He last posted to his X and Instagram accounts minutes before his death.
Al Jazeera said in a statement that it “condemns in the strongest terms the targeted assassination” of its journalists. “The order to assassinate Anas Al Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza,” it added.
Sunday’s strike came after the Committee to Protect Journalists published an appeal for Sharif’s protection, saying it was “gravely worried” about his safety and accusing the IDF of launching a “smear campaign,” against him, which Sharif “believes is a precursor to his assassination.”
The CPJ said that 186 journalists have been killed since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023. At least 178 of those were Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, the group said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said he will be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Aug. 15 in Alaska.
“The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he posted on his social media platform.
Earlier, he had hinted at the timing and location, saying, “I think you’ll be very happy.”
“We are going to have a meeting with Russia. We’ll start off with Russia and we’ll announce a location. I think the location will be a very popular one for a lot of reasons. But we’ll be announcing that a little bit later. I just don’t want to do it now because of the importance of what we just did,” Trump said as he hosted the leaders Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House for a peace summit.
Asked if this is Russia’s last chance to achieve piece, Trump responded, “I don’t like using the term ‘last chance.”
“I think my gut instinct really tells me that we have a shot at it. You’ll find that out later on, maybe even today, but we have a shot at it,” he said.
Friday marked the deadline Trump set for Putin to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or face “secondary sanctions” against countries that buy oil from Russia.
But uncertainty remains as to whether the U.S. will hit Moscow with new economic penalties as focus turns to the one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin. Trump did not comment on the deadline as he took questions from reporters at the White House.
Trump on Thursday was asked directly if his Aug. 8 deadline for Putin to make peace or face consequences still applied.
“It’s gonna be up to him,” the president responded. “We’re going to see what he has to say. It’s gonna be up to him. Very disappointed.”
The White House was pushing for a trilateral summit between Trump, Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though Trump said Putin meeting with Zelenskyy wasn’t a condition for he and Putin to meet.
Still, Trump said on Friday the Ukrainian president will get “everything he needs.”
“The European leaders want to see peace. President Putin, I believe, wants to see peace. And Zelenskyy wants to see peace,” Trump said.
The president was asked if Zelenskyy will have to give up territory in any deal to end the war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“We’re looking at that but we’re actually looking to get some back and some swapping. It’s complicated. It’s actually nothing easy, it’s very complicated. But we’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched. There will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,” Trump responded.
Zelenskyy said in a statement Saturday, “We are ready, together with President Trump, together with all our partners, to work for a real and, most importantly, lasting peace — a peace that will not collapse because of Moscow’s wishes.”
“The Ukrainian people deserve peace,” Zelenskyy continued. “But all partners must understand what a worthy peace is. This war must be ended, and Russia must end it.”
U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Saturday met with Ukrainian and European officials in the United Kingdom.
In a Saturday evening address, Zelenskyy described the meeting as “constructive” and reiterated his faith in the U.S. and Trump’s ability to end the war.
“The President of the United States has the leverage and the determination,” Zelenskyy said. “Ukraine has supported all of President Trump’s proposals, starting back in February. A ceasefire – all formats have been supported.”
Trump, who once said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war within his first 24 hours in office and touted his personal relationship with Putin, has expressed increasing frustration with the Russian leader.
In mid-July, Trump said he was giving Putin a 50-day ultimatum to stop the fighting. He then moved up the timeline to 10 days, citing his disappointment with Putin.
“I want to be generous, but we just don’t see any progress being made,” Trump said at the time. “I’m not so interested in talking anymore. He talks, we have such nice conversations, such respectful and nice conversations, and then people die the following night in a — with a missile going into a town and hitting.”
Tensions between the U.S. and Russia escalated last week when Trump announced he was moving nuclear submarines in response to what he called “highly provocative statements” from the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, Dmitry Medvedev.
Medvedev, also the former president of Russia, had sounded off on Trump’s ceasefire deadline, writing on social media that “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war.”
While Trump said the nuclear submarines would be moved in response, he and the White House would not specify what capabilities the submarines have or other questions surrounding the announcement.
Earlier this week, Trump indirectly upped the pressure on Russia by doubling his tariff rate against India over India’s imports of Russian oil.
(BALTIMORE) — A 38-year-old man was killed and five other people were wounded, including a 5-year-old girl, in a “mass shooting” in a Baltimore neighborhood Saturday night, police said.
The gunfire broke out shortly before 8:50 p.m. as people near the intersection of Spaulding and Queensberry Avenues gathered outside to have a crab feed, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley told reporters at a news conference late Saturday night.
The 5-year-old girl was struck in the hand. “Thankfully, it doesn’t appear that her injury is very serious,” Worley said.
A 38-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to a hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead early Sunday, according to a police update.
The other victims are a 23-year-old woman and three men, ages 32, 33 and 52, according to police, whom police said on Sunday are “believed to be suffering from non-life-threatening injuries.”
Police have not released any details about the suspect in the shooting.
“We have little information at this point. All we know is there’s multiple rounds fired, multiple victims,” Worley said Saturday.
A motive for the shooting remains under investigation, according to Worley, who said it appeared the people had gathered outside and were eating crabs “and it looks like somebody just opened fire.”
Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to contact them directly or via the city’s the Metro Crime Stoppers tip line.
Francisco Richart Barbeira/NurPhoto via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Russia and Ukraine exchanged large waves of attack drones overnight into Sunday as the two combatants maneuvered ahead of Friday’s planned summit in Alaska between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 100 drones into the country overnight, of which 70 were shot down or otherwise suppressed. Thirty drones impacted across 12 locations, it said in a statement posted to Telegram.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its troops shot down at least 126 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Temporary restrictions on flights were introduced at airports in the southwest of the country in Vladikavkaz, Grozny, Saratov and Kaluga, Russia’s federal air agency Rosaviatsiya said, during the attacks.
In Saratov, regional Gov. Roman Busargin said one person was killed and several injured by a drone that fell near a residential building. An industrial facility was also damaged, Busargin said.
The Ukrainian General Staff later confirmed the attack on Saratov, saying in a statement that it targeted an oil refinery there. “Saratov oil refinery is one of the key facilities of the Russian Federation’s fuel infrastructure involved in providing oil products to the occupation troops,” the General Staff said. “Its annual processing capacity is up to 7 million tons of oil.”
“The Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to systematically take measures aimed at reducing the military and economic potential of the enemy in order to force it to stop the armed aggression against our state,” it added. “Every affected object on the territory of the Russian Federation involved in securing its criminal war against Ukraine brings us closer to just peace.”
Ukraine appears to have been ramping up its drone strikes in recent days. So far in August, Russia’s Defense Ministry has reported downing 1,117 Ukrainian drones — an average of around 117 per day, marking a notable increase on July’s daily average of 97 drones downed.
For Ukrainian defenders, August has thus far been quieter than July. Kyiv has reported facing 749 drones and 11 missiles so far this month, an average of approximately 75 drones and one missile each day.
July saw Russia set a new record number of aerial attacks, launching a total of 6,443 drones and missiles into Ukraine across the month, with a daily average of around 201 drones and six missiles per day.
While long-range strikes and grinding frontline combat continues, both Kyiv and Moscow are also maneuvering on the diplomatic front.
Since Trump announced that he would meet with Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian officials have gone on a diplomatic offensive to bolster the Western coalition in support of its peace demands.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have insisted that any negotiations must include Ukraine. Kyiv will also not officially cede any territory, accept limitations on its armed forces, or jettison its ambitions to join NATO and the European Union, Zelenskyy has said.
Putin, though, is demanding that Ukraine cede several regions — not all of which are controlled by Russian troops — in the south and east of the country, accept curbs on the size and sophistication of its military and be permanently excluded from NATO.
Russia’s demands, Zelenskyy has said, constitute an attempt to “partition Ukraine.”
Speaking from the White House on Friday, Trump suggested a settlement could include “some swapping of territories.” Zelenskyy swiftly rejected the proposal, saying Ukraine “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”
“Our positions were clear: a reliable, lasting peace is only possible with Ukraine at the negotiating table, with full respect for our sovereignty and without recognizing the occupation,” Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s influential chief of staff, said in a Saturday statement after taking part in talks with Vice President JD Vance in the U.K.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were among the European leaders to sign a joint statement expressing their support for Kyiv in any peace negotiations.
“We welcome President Trump’s work to stop the killing in Ukraine, end the Russian Federation’s war of aggression and achieve just and lasting peace and security for Ukraine,” the statement read.
“We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed,” it added.
“Meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities,” the joint statement said. “The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine. We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force. The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.”
All evacuation warnings have been lifted regarding the Canyon Fire in California after firefighters appeared to gain the upper hand in battling the wildfire, which broke out amid a heatwave and rapidly spread to over 5,300 acres in two days and destroyed at least seven structures, including two homes, authorities said.
As of Sunday morning, fire crews had increased containment on the blaze from 28% on Saturday evening to 62%, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). The fire also spread into Los Angeles County, endangering homes and forcing thousands of evacuation over the weekend near the city of Castaic.
“As of this morning, all evacuation warnings in Los Angeles and Ventura counties have been lifted,” Cal Fire said in an updated statement on Sunday morning.
As of Sunday, the fire had burned 5,370 acres, according to Cal Fire.
On Thursday, a local emergency proclamation issued by officials enabling the county to “expedite access to critical resources and cut through bureaucratic red tape to enhance firefighting and recovery efforts,” according to a statement from Los Angeles County.
The Canyon Fire had grown to over 5,000 acres in a matter of hours and was 25% contained, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department Friday morning. On Thursday, the fire had burned 1,500 acres.
At least two homes and five small outbuildings were burned in the flames, officials said.
More than 1,100 firefighters are battling the blaze, which broke out in extremely hot weather — accompanied by minimal humidity — which officials said are the perfect conditions for the flames to increase.
Evacuation zones and shelters At the height of the fire on Friday and Saturday, more than 5,700 homes and structures in Los Angeles County were threatened and and nearly 8,000 residents were forced to evacuate, officials said.
Many residents of Ventura County were also initially under evacuation orders or evacuation warnings, which have all been cancelled, officials said.
The emergency declaration issued by officials granted authorities the flexibility to “coordinate across agencies, mobilize additional firefighting personnel and equipment, and streamline procurement processes,” officials said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to Cal Fire.
Firefighters were also making progress in containing the Gifford Fire, which as of Sunday had burned 114,621 acres, mostly within the Los Padres National Forest in Solvang, California, according to Cal Fire. The wildfire, which began on Aug. 1 and became the largest wildfire in the years, was 21% contained as of Sunday morning, officials said.
