Los Angeles: A relentless Southern California wildfire raged on Tuesday with 53 homes up in smoke, thousands more threatened and new rounds of evacuations as towering flames crackled close to foothill neighbourhoods in the path of the blaze.

Flames leapt through half-century-old thickets of tinder-dry brush, bush and trees just 15 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Firefighters awaited daybreak to learn the new extent of the 6-day-old fire, which is now expected to burn for weeks.

The size of fire in the Angeles National Forest grew to more than 190 square miles overnight.