There are powerful winds fueling the California fires
The Los Angeles Fire Department is preparing to respond to the Sierra Fires. Newsom: “We are ready” to fight the fires
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said more than 7,500 personnel are responding to the fires across local, state and federal agencies. They’re using a lot of resources to fight the fires.
She said that they just finished tidying up from the Rose Parade. “We had the big thing that showed off how wonderful life is here followed immediately by something showing off how awful life can be.”
Cheryl Heuton and her husband left their home in Pasadena with just toothbrushes, laptops and old stuffed animals that belonged to their children when they were younger.
An evacuee order signals the fire poses an “immediate threat to life” and mandates the mandatory departure of those with animals, as well as those who need more time to leave.
Meanwhile, the Lidia fire near Acton reached more than 75% containment. The fire in West Hills and the one in Sylmar have been contained.
The Sunset fire broke out Wednesday night, encroaching on the Hollywood Hills and prompting mandatory evacuations in notable parts of the area, such as Mulholland Drive, Hollywood Boulevard and Runyon Canyon Park. By early Thursday morning, most of the evacuation zone had been lifted, said the Los Angeles Fire Department.
“High winds and very dry conditions will continue to spark fires in the area“, it said, referring to the multiple fires burning in the area.
Fires continue to rage on in Southern California, as tens of thousands of acres of land have been decimated, and the flames have been partially contained.
A State-of-the-Art Santa Ana Wind Warning: The California School Fires Are a ‘Major Disaster’ and the US President’s Visit to Italy
A wind advisory will be in effect until at least Friday afternoon. The NWS warns people to stay away from downed power lines and call for help.
Over the past few days we have had a strong Santa Ana wind event, in which we ended up with a life threatening and destructive windstorm.
“The typical strengths of the winds are on the order of, say, 30 to 60 mph when they occur, a couple times a year,” Ariel Cohen, chief meteorologist for the NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard, told NPR’s Morning Edition.
The Santa Ana winds — dry, gusty winds that blow toward the coast — have fueled the fires in Southern California this week. They are relatively common in the region, but meteorologists say the current strength is abnormal.
Wind speeds have slowed down some but are “will still be strong enough to be of concern” in the next few days, with a range of 20 to 60 miles per hour until Friday morning, the National Weather Service said.
“The confluence of factors — wind, fire and smoke — have created dangerous, complex situations that present unsafe conditions for our school communities,” the district said.
US president Joe Biden is receiving real-time information on the situation and has offered “all federal assistance needed” to put out the fires. “FEMA—the Federal Emergency Management Agency—has approved a fire-management grant to support the affected areas and help reimburse the State of California for the immediate costs of fighting the fires,” the president said in a statement on Wednesday. The president declared that the fires were a major disaster.
We’re with you in Southern California. The president canceled a planned trip to Italy on Wednesday to focus on the fire response.
Los Angeles County Red Flag Warnings for Multiple Fires and the Los Angeles-Vancouver City Containment Aftermath of a Flaring Fire
Red flag warnings are in effect until Friday for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, where multiple fires are burning out of control.
The premiere of the movie Better Man, starring Robert Williams, and the other films Unstoppable, and Wolf Man have been canceled due to dangerous conditions. On Thursday, California authorities ordered the evacuation of the Hollywood neighborhood after a fire broke out a few hundred yards from Hollywood Boulevard. The out-of-control situation has also led the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to postpone the announcement of the Oscar nominations by two days.
On Thursday, AccuWeather, a commercial company that provides data on weather and its impact, increased its estimate of total damage and economic loss to the region at between $135 billion to $150 billion.
The NFL has moved a game scheduled for Monday between the Vikings and Rams from Inglewood, Calif., to Glendale, Ariz. The NBA postponed a game between the Lakers and Hornets to another date.
The National Weather Service has warned that strong wind gusts may reach up to 60 mph, so the test will be whether the containment lines can hold up. A red flag warning remains in place until 6 p.m. PST.
A two-pronged assault against los angeles involving Palisades, Eaton, and Lidia fires: A voice in the fires
Californians are reeling over the destruction. Jinghuan Liu Tervalon, who lost her Altadena home to the Eaton fire, told NPR she only expected to evacuate for just a day and did not know her home’s fire insurance coverage.
She said that she keeps wondering at night how she didn’t anticipate this. I would have packed a lot more stuff if I could go back in time.
A curfew has been issued for areas under the Palisades and Eaton fire evacuation zones from 6 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Saturday. LA Sheriff Robert Luna said Friday that the curfew is in place to “enhance public safety, protect property and prevent any burglaries or looting in the area.”
A person was arrested after a fire. There was not enough reason for the person to be held, but they are being held on a violation. The investigation is ongoing, he said.
While there’s been considerable progressing in containing the Hurst and Lidia fires, the two largest infernos — the Palisades and Eaton fires — persist with little to no signs of waning, according to city officials. A fire in West Hills destroyed over 1000 acres in just a few hours.
There was a combination of long-standing dry conditions and a bout of strong Santa Ana winds that blew from the high desert of Nevada and Utah into Southern California that made for huge fires in Los Angeles.
Margaret Stewart says the priority was saving lives and protecting property. We now have a more powerful assault because we are capable of operating at our full capacity.
In a two-pronged attack, aircraft have ramped up dousing the fires from the air while firefighters and bulldozers starve them of fuel on the ground. At times earlier in the week, planes could not take off because of the wind.
Ken Pimlott, who was the former director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, says the tide is turning. The key windows to get through the red flag fire weather are today and tomorrow. Then I think we’ll start to see much more progress.”
Janet Upton is a former deputy director of Cal Fire. All you can do is find a way to get rid of the heartbeat.