Efforts to quell a number of major wildfires burning their way across Southern California have been hampered by gusting winds as the area consumed by the blazes continues to grow

Some 200,000 people have evacuated ahead of the fires, which have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced hundreds of Los Angeles-area schools to close.

Authorities feared four major fires - ranging from Los Angeles up the Pacific coast to Santa Barbara County - would be whipped up by the region's notorious westward Santa Ana winds. Speeds were expected to reach between 50mph and 80mph, with a automated alert warning of “extreme fire danger”.

It also raised the prospect new fires igniting if winds carry embers or drive flames further into the parched landscape.

Officials expressed tempered relief in a morning briefing that overnight winds had been as ferocious as expected, giving firefighters an opportunity to beat back the flames although in more difficult conditions.

“We were promised erratic weather but luckily the erratic weather was erratic in a good way,” Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, describing firefighters who had to extinguish flames threatening their fire engines before they could move to protecting houses.

Despite that relative reprieve, officials warned that the threat from high winds would persist.

“We’re seeing this wind event now that is very very dangerous, very very critical,” California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services head Mark Ghilarducci told reporters. “These winds are going to be very severe”.

The hazard from those weather conditions “cannot be overemphasized,” Cal Fire head Ken Pimlott said, noting that responders were not just combatting the large blades but working to suppress “many” small fires before they could metastasize.

California fires: in pictures Show all 36 1 /36 California fires: in pictures California fires: in pictures A man watches the Thomas Fire in the hills above Carpinteria, California AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures Santa Barbara harbor stands as wildfire burns along the coast during the Thomas Fire REUTERS California fires: in pictures Flames from the Thomas Fire burn in the hills of Montecito, California AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures Fire personnel drive along West Lilac Road near Bonsall Rex Features California fires: in pictures The Thomas Fire burns on a hillside behind Lake Casitas in Ventura AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures Chatsworth firefighters Zach Reynolds, left, and Steven Salazar clear hot spots at a home destroyed by the Skirball Fire on Casiano Road in Bel-Air Rex Features California fires: in pictures A home is consumed by fire Getty Images California fires: in pictures A mountain lion is removed from a truck. Nearly 200 animals were evacuated from the Wildlife Waystation when the Creek fire started. Rex Features California fires: in pictures Firefighters battle the Lilac fire in Bonsall AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures Kalorama Apartments that was partially destroyed in the fire Rex Features California fires: in pictures Inmate firefighters fight a fire in an avocado orchard at the Ojai Vista Farm EPA California fires: in pictures Flames consume a structure as the Lilac fire burns in Bonsai, Calif AP California fires: in pictures Inmate firefighters fight a fire in an avocado orchard at the Ojai Vista Farm EPA California fires: in pictures Firefighters monitor a section of the Thomas Fire along the 101 freeway Getty Images California fires: in pictures Firefighters work to extinguish the Thomas Fire as it burns past the 101 Highway towards the Pacific Coast Highway in Ventura AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures Firefighter Dan Whelan is silhouetted against the sun as he battles a wildfire burning near Faria State Beach AP California fires: in pictures A firefighter is working on extinguishing the Lilac Fire Reuters California fires: in pictures Firefighters work to extinguish the Thomas Fire as it burns past the 101 Highway AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures A wildfire threatens homes as it burns along a hillside in La Conchita, Calif AP California fires: in pictures A car drives past as the Thomas Fire burns a hillside south of Casitas Springs, California AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures Firefighters try to extinguish fire at a house in the Bel Air district of Los Angeles Rex Features California fires: in pictures A burnt-out car is seen at the Bel Air district of Los Angeles Rex Features California fires: in pictures A burning house at the Bel Air district of Los Angeles Rex Features California fires: in pictures Firefighters battle to contain flames to a home on fire in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles Rex Features California fires: in pictures LA city firefighters try to save a winery storage building that is own by billionaire Rupert Murdoch Rex Features California fires: in pictures A firefighter tries to extinguish fire at a house in the Bel Air district of Los Angeles Rex Features California fires: in pictures A burning house at the Bel Air district of Los Angeles Rex Features California fires: in pictures Los Angeles City firefighter Francisco Martinez protects a home as firefighters battle the Skirball Fire in Bel-Air Rex Features California fires: in pictures The Thomas Fire burns behind trails on Old Baldwin Road in Ojai, California AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures Members of the Reinhardt family sort through the remains of their family home after the Thomas wildfire swept through Ventura, California AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures Heavy smoke covers the seaside enclave of Mondos Beach beside the 101 highway as flames reach the coast during the Thomas wildfire near Ventura, California AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures A family wears face masks as they walk through the smoke filled streets after the Thomas wildfire swept through Ventura, California AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures Flames from the Thomas fire burn above a truck on Highway 101 north of Ventura AP California fires: in pictures Trees are seen through the haze at the burnt out Vista del Mar Hospital after the Thomas wildfire swept through Ventura, California AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures A woman involved in a traffic accident waits to get towed beside a wall of flames on the 101 highway during the Thomas wildfire near Ventura, California AFP/Getty Images California fires: in pictures The Thomas Fire burns along a hillside near Santa Paula, California AFP/Getty Images

Firefighters were continuing to battle on multiple fronts against infernos that were only slightly more contained than a day earlier.

The Skirball fire, which began as a brush fire and has been menacing the upscale Los Angeles neighbourhood of Bel Air, was at 5 percent containment after it had spread over some 475 acres and destroyed at least four homes.

In northern Los Angeles County, firefighters had gotten the 7,000 acre Rye Fire within 15 percent containment after making progress overnight. The Creek Fire had destroyed or damaged 30 structures and threatened a dozen communities as firefighters grappled with rugged terrain to bring the 12,600 acre blaze within 10 percent containment. Some 2,500 people were dispatched to battle the two.

And in Ventura County, the largest of those four conflagrations, the Thomas Fire, had grown to some 96,000 acres as firefighters contained 5 percent of the blaze amid mass evacuations that forced thousands of people out of their homes. Officials estimated that 150 structures had been destroyed.

North of San Diego, a fifth blaze called the Lilac Fire grew from about 10 acres to between 100 and 150 acres in less than an hour on Thursday morning, destroying two structures, damaging 12 more and prompting evacuations, the local CAL FIRE agency reported.

The Skirball Fire threatened media magnate Rupert Murdoch's Moraga Estate winery. The property was evacuated, with possible damage to some buildings, Mr Murdoch said in a statement, but "We believe the winery and house are still intact.“

While the flames only directly endangered a sliver of of Los Angeles, people across the city shared stories of loss as they went about their days beneath thick smoke and an orange haze.

“Everything is covered in ash. All of our eyes are watering,” said Betsy Burnham, a 55-year-old interior designer whose home is safe for now. “None of us can believe” that the fires have encroached so closely on the city’s affluent west side, she added.

“It’s really shocking,” Ms Burnham said.

The Los Angeles Police Department tweeted “LAPD Working to Save Every Californian, Pets Included” along with a photo of a police officer in a respirator rescuing a cat.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the country's second largest with more than 640,000 students, said it closed at least 265 of its nearly 1,100 schools. The University of California Santa Barbara canceled classes as well.

Residents were also being ordered to evacuate a tiny beachfront community northwest of Los Angeles where the Thomas Fire is churning down hillsides toward seaside homes.

A California Highway Patrol officer drove through Faria Beach Thursday announcing the evacuations through a loudspeaker as surging winds roiled smoke through the streets.

Residents used garden hoses to spray palm trees to keep them from burning as firefighters scrambled to stop the progress of flames.

The US 101 highway along the coast was intermittently closed, as were several highways in and around the Ventura County resort town of Ojai, where most of the 7,000 residents are under evacuation orders.

A woman’s body was found at the site of a car accident near Ojai. The woman’s identity have not been determined, or whether it was in any related Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kevin Donoghue said.

Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said if the wind continues, and rain doesn’t touch the region, the Thomas Fire could continue for a few more weeks.