More than 26 million people from California to Arizona are under red flag warnings Tuesday — meaning winds, temperatures and humidity are ripe for fire danger — as firefighters deal with blazes already burning in California’s wine country and in the Los Angeles area, according to CNN News.
This is the third round of high fire danger alerts, with this lat5est expected to commence Tuesday in Northern California and then spreads toward Southern California Tuesday night into Wednesday.
These dangerous conditions will be triggered by a strong high-pressure system and southward plunge of the jet stream diving into the West from Canada. When this happens, strong offshore flow exists in California, contributing to gusty winds and low humidity.
Meanwhile, southern California will see hurricane-force Santa Ana winds beginning Tuesday night and lasting through Thursday. Wind gusts of up to 80 mph are possible in the mountains and foothills, and relative humidity could drop into the single digits, according to the NWS. Gusts could reach 70 mph in other parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
There is a real concern that the Getty Fire, which has burned 656 acres and is only 15 percent contained, could easily flare up again with the coming winds. So far, 12 homes have been destroyed and five structures were damaged in the wind-driven fire. And embers are still flying, which could easily spark brush fires elsewhere, according to LA County fire officials.
“All it takes is one ember, one ember to head downwind and start a fire,” Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas said at an afternoon news conference. Margaret Stewart, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman said that favorable winds and higher humidity last night helped firefighters slow the growth of the blaze overnight. “Our focus was taking full advantage of those conditions overnight,” she added.
In northern California = driven by hurricane-force winds – the Kincade Fire, the state’s largest active wildfire, has scorched more than 75,000 acres in and around Northern California’s Sonoma County since last week. It is still only 15 percent contained.
Hurricane-style winds reaching 100 mph propelled wildfires across Northern California. Roughly 200K people were forced to evacuate homes. #wildfires October 28, 2019
A message from the Mayor
“I’m sure we’ve all gotten phone calls and had conversations with people saying, ‘Well, there’s not a lot of smoke. It should be fine to go home.’ I want to continue to tell people: Listen to the professionals and the firefighters who are asking you to stay away,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti, adding that evacuation centers set up Monday are still open.
“People will not be returning to their homes this evening. You should prepare for that now,” Garcetti said, according to the LA Times.
#Repost @lifewithweather
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‘Getty Fire’ burning off the 405 highway in Los Angeles around 3AM today Prunovinryard/Twitter Los Angeles, California
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.#gettyfire #gettyfires #wildfire #wildfires #californiafires #getty #fires #lafire #la #losangeles #calfire pic.twitter.com/sf2wFEKrQ0— Holly Robinson Peete (@hollyrpeete) October 29, 2019
Power shutoffs in southern and northern California
Southern California Edison has already shut off power to more than 100 customers and is monitoring an additional 206,000 customers for possible shut-offs in Kern, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties in the coming days.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. announced Monday it could shut off power to 605,000 customers Tuesday and Wednesday in its latest bid to reduce the wildfire risk.
Counties affected by the GP&E shutoff include Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba.
