Home » New fires erupt around L.A. County as dangerous fire weather continues – Jobsmaa.com

New fires erupt around L.A. County as dangerous fire weather continues – Jobsmaa.com

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Southern California faced another day of dangerous winds and dry conditions that fueled new blazes in a region marked by unprecedented fire losses in a month.

In the final day, hundreds of exhausted firefighters battled a large blaze near Castaic and a small but not frightening one at Sepulveda Pass in Brentwood and Bel-Air. Aggressive water droplets and wind caused fire damage in Jan. 7 does not match the strength seen during the firestorm.

The Sepulveda fire is the latest blaze in a nervous week that saw Southern California go under red flag fire weather warnings for the fourth consecutive day. The warnings warn that conditions are ripe for fires to ignite and spread rapidly.

Parts of Southern California have had red flag warnings for 14 of the last 17 days. The stretch began on January 7, the day the Palisades and Eaton fires began their devastating spread, leveling parts of Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

Thursday will be another critical fire weather hazard day.

The National Weather Service said on social media that “any new fires will grow rapidly and out of control”. “Have a plan, especially if you're in a high fire danger area.”

Overnight, officials battled the Sepulveda Fire that broke out on the 405 Freeway.

This article is provided free of charge to keep our community safe and supported during these devastating fires.

Just before 2 a.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department said the 40-acre fire was contained. Officials lifted evacuation warnings for areas of Bel-Air, including homes on Cassiano Road and Salon Road, as well as Moraga Drive, which is lined with multimillion-dollar homes. Officials earlier lifted an evacuation alert for a portion of Brentwood, including Mount St. Mary's University's Salon campus.

Burning embers swirl as crews work to contain the wind-driven Hughes Fire in Tapia Canyon.

Burning embers swirl as crews work to contain the wind-driven Hughes Fire in Tapia Canyon.

(Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times)

North of Castaic, the Hughes Fire has burned more than 10,000 acres and forced thousands to flee their homes.

The Hughes Fire started on Lake Hughes Road just before 11 a.m. Wednesday and quickly prompted evacuation orders in and around Castaic Lake, extending west into Ventura County and north toward Sandberg by late afternoon. More than 31,000 people were ordered to evacuate, and 23,000 were put on alert.

Crews were 14% contained to the 10,176-acre fire just before 10 p.m.

Santa Ana winds will strengthen and peak during the day Thursday, said Ryan Kittel, a meteorologist with the weather service. The weather service has extended its Red Flag Fire Weather Warning until 10 a.m. Friday for most of Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

“We're still in the middle of this prolonged severe drought, and we're looking at this next wind development,” Kittel said. Humidity is less than 10%.

Peak winds on Thursday are forecast to be slightly stronger in some places than previously expected. Winds could reach 45 mph Thursday in the western San Fernando Valley, Oxnard and the Grapevine area of ​​Interstate 5; 53 mph in Ramona; 54 mph in Acton; 55 mph at Fillmore and Idlewild; 59 mph in Santa Clarita; 62 mph at Thousand Oaks; 68 mph in Beaumont; and 69 mph in Alpine.

With the air so dry — and not humid overnight — it's “really a period about humidity,” Kittel said. Plants and other fuels are “ready to burn.”

However, rain is on the horizon in Southern California. Rain will begin Saturday afternoon and last through Monday night.

Rain totals for Covina could reach nine-tenths of an inch; nearly three-quarters of an inch for Downtown LA, Long Beach and Santa Clarita; two-thirds of an inch to Redondo Beach; three-fifths of an inch at Fillmore and Canoka Park; and about half an inch in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard. Eleven inches of snow will fall on Wrightwood and four inches on the Grapevine section of Interstate 5.

The Hughes Fire will continue to burn firefighters Thursday.

Air quality in the Hughes Fire area was in the unhealthy range, according to the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District. A warning was 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 northwest LA County from Santa Monica and Malibu Beach south through the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita and the Castaic Lake area.

Minutes after the Hughes fire broke out, LA County Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Hatami said Michael Antonovich walked out of Antelope Valley Courthouse in Lancaster and headed back to Santa Clarita, where hundreds of children were being evacuated from West Creek Academy as the sky darkened with smoke.

“You had some parents crying. You had younger children … and they were crying. Smoke can be seen coming from the school. Everyone is on edge,” said Hatami, whose children are 8 and 10.

His wife, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who was sent to help with evacuations, said his entire family had experienced “fire fatigue” after more than two weeks of waiting for wind-driven flames to threaten their home.

“It's a lot. I love California. I love Los Angeles, but it's definitely stressful,” she said. “It's hard to go to work when your house is on fire, your kids are at school, your wife is out, and you don't know what's going to happen to her.”

The fire was burning five miles north of the county's Castaic Jail complex, forcing deputies to move 476 inmates from tent-like barracks at the Pitts Detention Center to the concrete North County Correctional Facility. Both buildings are part of the same prison complex, which is within an evacuation zone.

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