An air tanker drops retardant while battling the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. The overall weather picture in northern areas is improving as powerful, dry winds bring extreme fire weather to Southern California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

By MARCIO SANCHEZ and GREGORY BULL Associated Press

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — A new wildfire erupted Wednesday in wind-whipped Southern California, forcing the evacuation of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and nearby homes, as both ends of the state struggled with blazes, dangerously gusty weather and deliberate blackouts.

The brush fire broke out just before dawn in the Simi Valley area north of Los Angeles and quickly grew to more than 970 acres (390 hectares), Ventura County officials said. They gave no immediate estimate of how many people were ordered to leave.

Library spokeswoman Melissa Giller said around midmorning that the hilltop museum was not damaged. She said that the flames came within about 30 yards (27 meters) of the property but that it was protected by aircraft dropping water and by a firebreak.

Hundreds of goats are brought in each year to eat away vegetation that could fuel wildfires on the 300-acre (120-hectare) grounds, Giller said. Reagan and his wife, Nancy, are buried next to each other on a hillside at the library.

Meanwhile, frustration and anger mounted across Northern California as Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the state’s largest utility, undertook its third round of sweeping blackouts in a week, hoping to prevent its electrical equipment from toppling or coming into contact with branches and sparking fires.