Man braves raging fire to rescue a rabbit, restores faith in humanity

A man rescued a wild rabbit from the raging wildfires on the side of a California highway on Wednesday evening

The incident took place on 101 freeway in La Conchita. An eyewitness told Reuters that the man “just pulled to the side of the road and jumped out” to rescue the rabbit, before he was moved on by Highway Patrol.

The largest blaze, the Thomas Fire, burned more than 90,000 acres (36,000 hectares) after it destroyed more than 150 homes and threatened thousands more in Ventura, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest on Los Angeles. Additional evacuations were called for late on Wednesday in the Ventura area, where 50,000 people had already fled their homes over the last three days.

Hot, dry Santa Ana winds are expected to fan several relentless wildfires in southern California on Thursday (December 7), where hundreds of houses have burned and tens of thousands have fled their homes around Los Angeles, the second-largest U.S. city.

The winds, which blow westward from the California desert, were forecast to reach 75 mph (130 kph) on Thursday. That could stoke several blazes burning in the Los Angeles area that have already caused, according to local media, about 200,000 people to evacuate.