A rapidly growing wildfire in Southern California has prompted thousands of residents to be evacuated and it continues to grow as heat and dry conditions fuel the rapid spread. The Canyon Fire ignited early Thursday afternoon and by Friday it had expanded to about 4,850 acres, according to The New York Times.

Temperatures in the area are near 100 degrees and humidity as low as 15 percent. The southern part of California has seen very little rain, drying out vegetation and making it "ripe to burn," the National Weather Service (NWS) for Los Angeles warned.