California blaze spreads in hot, windy conditions in year’s largest wildfire

A fast-growing wildfire in central California has become the largest in the state this year, surpassing the size of January’s wildfires that devastated parts of Los Angeles. The Madre fire had exploded to more than 35,000 acres (14,000 hectares) by Thursday morning, after breaking out in San Luis Obispo county on Wednesday afternoon and tearing through grasslands as dry, hot weather raised the fire risk for large portions of the state before the...