A fire has broken out on the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties and is spreading quickly, threatening numerous hillside homes in the Calabasas and Hidden Hills areas.

The Kenneth fire ignited next to a trailhead near Victory Boulevard around 2:30 p.m

The fire, fueled by strong Santa Ana winds, had destroyed 960 acres of brush by 5:30 p.m. and was burning south, officials said. It spread across open areas and threatened homes in the Malibu Canyon area north of the 101 Freeway near Calabasas.

Firefighters were on scene and water droplets were generated from the air.

“The challenging terrain and persistent winds complicate suppression efforts and require increased vigilance by residents and adherence to instructions from local authorities,” incident commanders said.

Shortly before 6 p.m., Governor Gavin Newsom announced that 900 additional firefighters were being deployed to fight the fire. He also praised the speed with which helicopters were already working to extinguish the flames with water.

“First responders respond quickly to the Kenneth fire, transporting water from Pepperdine University’s recycled water irrigation reservoir by helicopter to firefighters on the scene in Calabasas,” he wrote in a post on X. “Multiple water refills in just minutes.”

A mandatory evacuation for areas around Vanowen Street south to Burbank Boulevard and County Lane Road east to Valley Circle Boulevard was downgraded to an evacuation warning at 5:12 p.m.

Evacuation warnings have been lifted for the area between Valley Circle and Woodlake Avenue and in the Oak Park area near Kanan Road and Agoura Road, east of Kanan Road to Deer Hill.

In a similar incident, an evacuation warning for the Kenneth fire was mistakenly sent to residents throughout Los Angeles.

Shortly before 4 p.m., residents from Long Beach to Echo Park and beyond mistakenly received the evacuation warning on their cell phones. A corrected alert was sent around 4:19 p.m

“Ignore the latest evacuation warning,” the warning said. “It was just for the Kenneth Fire.”

Christina Lazarte, a 22-year-old from Van Nuys, headed to the Victory Trailhead with her father, Julio, hoping to capture the scenic view with her new camera. She arrived around 2:50 p.m. and began smelling smoke and noticing flames.

“We saw the fire barely start. It wasn’t a big spread, but because it was windy, it started to spread more,” Lazarte said. “The smell was really terrible.

She said police officers and firefighters soon arrived on the scene and evacuated people from the area.

“There were still hikers out there before the fire even started, as I heard one of the people say when we were kicked out,” she said. “There was a lot of smoke spreading.”

The new fire comes as firefighters continue to battle several other fires in the region, including the nearly 20,000-acre Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire in Altadena, which has charred around 13,700 acres.