An explosion occurred Thursday evening in California causing a massive fire that engulfed dozens of homes, officials said.

'The flames are being fuelled by something. There was a loud explosion being reported by witness and just dozens of homes on fire,' CNN quoted Kelly Huston of California Emergency Management as saying.

Some people were injured in the fire, which broke out at around 7 p.m.

'Crews are just trying to assess how many injuries they have there and what they're going to do to contain the flames,' Huston said.