A rapidly spreading blaze in California is impacting communities in the Los Angeles area as thousands have been placed under evacuation orders, officials said.

Firefighters have reached 25% containment against the fast-moving Canyon fire, which exploded to nearly 5,000 acres late Thursday, forcing thousands to evacuate.

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.