Firefighters battling the massive wildfires in Los Angeles say they are also bracing for “ember casts” that could spread the raging flames miles away. 

The ember cast occurs when heavy winds carry the cinder downwind to a new area where spot fires can be ignited, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. These spot fires could be in another brush area, which then creates its own ember cast, and the pattern repeats, officials noted.

Rapidly moving wildfires in the Pacific Palisades area have spread to more than 2,925 acres with no containment, causing more than 80,000 to evacuate as of Wednesday. 

The fires are being fueled by what the National Weather Service has said could be the strongest Santa Ana windstorm in more than a decade, which began Tuesday across Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Los Angeles has declared a state of emergency for the winds produced by the flames.

“Winds to this degree can easily carry embers a mile downwind, which means they can drop into vegetation and spark a new fire away from where fire resources are in place fighting, ” Margaret Stewart, Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) public information officer, told NewsNation on Wednesday. 

“The heavy vegetation in the area and these embers are carried, and they’ll spark a new fire,” she said. “That’s part of the challenge with this type of a fire.” 

According to the LAFD, the embers could also get caught up in the “eves of a house, get in through the attic vent or gather up under an exposed wooden deck — and then the house is burning, and another potential ember cast is created.”