When the air is warm and dry, transpiration and evaporation also suck water out of the plants and soil. That leaves dry vegetation that can provide fuel for flying embers to spread wildfires, as the Los Angeles area saw in early January.

Raging wildfires that continue to burn a path of destruction through Southern California claimed the Will Rogers ranch along with a number of other local landmarks in what is already the most damaging fire in Los Angeles history.

LOS ANGELES − As multiple wildfires continue to burn through Southern California, evacuation orders remain in place throughout the region through at least Thursday. Authorities continue to investigating the causes of three wildfires that began burning in Southern California on Tuesday and two fires that sparked north of Los Angeles and in Hollywood on Wednesday.