Dozens of communities are now under mandatory evacuation orders in Southern California with evacuation warnings affecting dozens more as crews continued battling a pair of deadly wildfires in the region Friday.

The alert status for heightened combustion hazards in the county's inland valleys and mountains went into effect at 4 a.m. Wednesday and will last until 6 p.m. Friday.

The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag waning for a wide swath of Southern California as Santa Ana winds are expected to bring dangerous fire weather to the region later this week.