Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger announced a local emergency proclamation in response to the rapidly spreading Canyon Fire.

First discovered: 12 a.m. Aug. 8 Initial location: Los Angeles County, Calif. A new wildfire was reported today at 12 a.m. in Los Angeles County, California. The wildfire has been burning on private land. At this time, the containment status is unknown and the cause of the fire remains undetermined.

Canyon Fire becomes one of four wildfires burning across Southern California on Thursday, forcing evacuations east of Lake Piru as crews battle flames.

New evacuations have been ordered in Central California as the massive Gifford Fire nears 100,000 acres burned. The fire is the largest of the year in California with more than 96,000 acres scorched,

Wildfires that tore through Los Angeles early this year may have caused hundreds more deaths than official reports show, new research suggests. While the fires were said to have taken 31 lives, a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that about 440 more deaths may be linked to the disaster.