Wildfires have torched more than 26,000 acres in California this week, forcing 45,000 evacuations and signaling an early start to the area’s typical fire season.

A cooling trend and increasing onshore winds were expected to help firefighters battle several Southern California wildfires — though forecasters warned that breezy conditions in inland and mountain a...

The Santa Rosa Island Fire, which ignited May 15, remains the largest active wildfire in the state.