A fast-growing brush fire prompted the evacuation of roughly 300 people on Monday (September 26) from an area of the Santa Cruz mountains in Northern California, NBC said.

The blaze charred about 1000 acres of drought-parched vegetation and threatened at least 300 structures, according to local media.

More than 200 firefighters were assigned to the so-called 'Loma' but they fire managed to contain only five percent of the blaze, officials said.

In La Cañada Flintridge, in Southern California, a fire broke out at about 9:00 p.m local time and consumed some three acres, NBC reported.

Aerial footage showed the blaze burning near highways and homes.

Firefighters continued to battle several brush fires fuelled by a prolonged drought and extreme heat across California.

To date this year, a total of 4,800 wildfires large and small have blackened more than 204,000 acres statewide, nearly 100,000 acres more than at the same time last year, Cal Fire reported.