Its been the most destructive wildfire season in California history , and its getting worse.

Conditions in California are especially ripe for devastating fires at the moment, with tinder-dry undergrowth; strong, volatile winds; and terrain thats difficult for firefighters to traverse. Those natural catalysts are compounded by the proximity of several current fires to large population centers.

In just the past four days, multiple fires have started in the hills of Los Angeles and surrounding cities. As of early Thursday, most of them were barely contained, if at all, and tens of thousands of people have been required to evacuate .

And the strong Santa Ana winds that funnel through the steep hills around LA, feeding and spreading fire as they do, are projected to build in strength this week, peaking at up to 80 miles per hour on Thursday.

A red flag warning alerting residents to conditions of extreme fire danger was in effect for much of Southern California through Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, with high winds expected to pick up around Los Angeles and Ventura counties on Wednesday night into Thursday.

And late Wednesday, authorities sent an emergency alert to all residents in Los Angeles County warning of critical fire danger.

We are still in a very active and dangerous situation, Ventura City Fire Chief David Endaya said at a news conference Wednesday evening. We are doing everything we can. We are facing dangers tonight and tomorrow. With the predicted wind, it could become a worse event than it is right now.