Wildfire near Los Angeles ruins tourists' plans

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Around 700 firefighters were on Monday battling a wildfire near Los Angeles that forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists camping over the holiday weekend, officials said.

The fire at the Angeles National Forest has consumed 1,600ha and was just five per cent contained, according to the inter-agency information management system InciWeb.

The rest was burning uncontrollably.

Evacuations were ordered for the entire San Gabriel Canyon, which usually sees 10,000 to 12,000 visitors during an average holiday weekend, such as the one ending on Monday with Labour Day.