Southern California is once again facing dangerous winds and dry conditions, sparking new fires across the region in a month of unprecedented fire damage.
In the final day, hundreds of exhausted firefighters battled a large blaze near Castiac and smaller but disturbing blazes in Brentwood and Sepulveda Pass in Bel Air. Heavy rain and winds have limited the damage caused by the fires, but they were nowhere near as strong as the January 7 firestorm.
The Sepulveda fire is the latest in a nerve-wracking week as Southern California remains under red flag fire warnings for the fourth day in a row. The alert warns that conditions are ripe for a fire to ignite and spread quickly.
Red flag warnings have been issued in parts of Southern California for 14 of the past 17 days. This section began on January 7, when the Palisades and Eaton fires began their devastating spread, flattening parts of the Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
Thursday will also be another day of significant fire danger.
“New fires are likely to grow quickly and become out of control,” the National Weather Service posted on social media. “Have a plan, especially if you are in a high fire risk area.”
Throughout the night, authorities responded to the Sepulveda Fire, which started off Highway 405.
This article is provided free of charge to help keep our community safe and supported during these devastating fires.
The Los Angeles Fire Department announced shortly before 2 a.m. that the fire, which had burned 40 acres, had stopped spreading. Officials lifted evacuation warnings for parts of Bel Air, including homes along Cassiano Road and Sharon Road, and Moraga Drive, which is lined with multimillion-dollar homes. Officials earlier lifted an evacuation warning for parts of Brentwood, including Mount St. Mary’s University Sharon Campus.
Burning embers swirl as crews work to extinguish the wind-driven Fuse Fire in Tapia Valley.
(Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times)
North of Castaic, the Hughes Fire has charred more than 10,000 acres and forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
The Hughes Fire started just before 11 a.m. Wednesday on Lake Hughes Road, and evacuation orders were immediately issued in and around Castaic Lake, but by the afternoon its area had expanded to Ventura County to the west and Sandburg to the north. It has spread nearby. More than 31,000 people were ordered to evacuate and warnings were issued for another 23,000.
Crews reached 14% containment of the 10,176-acre fire just before 10 p.m.
Winds in Santa Ana will pick up and peak during the day Thursday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Kittel. The National Weather Service has extended a red flag fire warning until 10 a.m. Friday for much of Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.
“We’re still in the middle of an extended period of extreme dryness, and we expect winds to pick up next,” Kittel said. Humidity was also below 10%.
Peak wind gusts on Thursday are expected to be a bit stronger than initially expected in some areas. Wind gusts Thursday could reach 45 mph in the western San Fernando Valley, Oxnard and the Grapevine section of Interstate 5. 53 mph in Ramona. In Acton, it’s 54 mph. 55 mph at Fillmore and Idyllwild. In Santa Clarita it’s 59 mph. 92 mph in Thousand Oaks. 108 mph in Beaumont. 109 mph in the Alps.
Kittel said it’s a “very concerning time for humidity” because the air is very dry and the humidity won’t rise overnight. Plants and other fuels are “ready to burn.”
But it looks like it’s going to rain in Southern California. Precipitation could begin as early as Saturday afternoon and continue into Monday night.
Covina could see total precipitation of nine-tenths of an inch. Downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Clarita saw almost three-quarters of an inch. for Redondo Beach, two-thirds of an inch; Three-fifths of an inch at Fillmore and Canoga Park. About half an inch in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard. 11 inches of snow could fall in Wrightwood and 4 inches on the Grapevine section of Interstate 5.
The Hughes Fire will continue to wear down firefighters Thursday.
According to the Ventura County Air Quality Control District, air quality was in the unhealthy range in the area where the Hughes Fire occurred. Alerts were issued Wednesday afternoon for Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Oxnard, Piru, Santa Paula, Simi Valley and Ventura.
A smoke advisory was also issued for a wide swath of northwestern Los Angeles County, from the Santa Monica and Malibu coastlines south through the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita to the Castaic Lake area.
Shortly after the Hughes Fire exploded, a Los Angeles County deputy said: Atty. Jonathan Hatami said he rushed out of the Michael Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse in Lancaster and drove back to Santa Clarita. There, hundreds of children were being evacuated from West Creek Academy as smoke darkened overhead.
“There were parents crying. You had younger kids… they were crying. You could see the smoke coming from the school. They’re all feeling a little tingly,” said an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old. said Hatami, who has a 2-year-old child.
The veteran prosecutor, whose wife is a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who was sent to help with the evacuation, said his entire family is experiencing “fire fatigue” after waiting more than two weeks for wind-driven flames to threaten their home. spoke.
“There’s a lot. I love California. I love Los Angeles, but this is definitely stressful,” he said. “It’s hard to go to work when you’re worried your house is going to burn down, the kids are at school, your wife is out, and you don’t know what’s going to happen to her.”
The fire was burning about eight miles north of the county’s Castaic Jail Facility, forcing deputies to move 476 inmates from the tent-like barracks at the Pitches Detention Center to the concrete North County Correctional Facility. . Both buildings are part of the same prison facility within the evacuation zone.
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