Firefighters grappling with a blaze that has destroyed at least 130 homes in California said Friday they had made progress in their fight as a turn in the weather offered a break.

Hurricane-strength winds this week fueled an explosion in the Mountain Fire near Camarillo, outside Los Angeles, which grew rapidly to over 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares).

Thousands of people in the path of the inferno were forced to flee, some with only minutes to gather possessions and pets as unpredictable flames leapt from home to home.

Robin Wallace told AFP the home she grew up in was destroyed minutes after everyone fled.

"We were expecting we'd be able to go back and get some things. But of course, that didn't work out.

"It was completely gone by the afternoon. It went very quickly."

Linda Fefferman said she knew she had to go when she smelled smoke.

"I'm trying to load the car with animals and important papers, my oxygen concentrator, and when it got too smoky for me, I knew I had to get out," she told a local broadcaster.