Dangerously strong winds were expected again in Los Angeles on Monday, potentially hampering efforts to extinguish two stubborn wildfires that have leveled entire neighborhoods and killed at least two dozen people.
Dry Santa Ana winds with speeds of up to 50 to 70 miles per hour were forecast to return Monday and continue through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said, issuing a “particularly dangerous situation” warning.
The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns warned at a community meeting Sunday evening.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier over the weekend that the state was pre-arranging firefighting in vulnerable areas, including near the Palisades and Eaton fires, the two largest blazes to ignite in Southern California.
At least 24 people have died in the fires that broke out on January 7th. The fires have turned entire neighborhoods into smoldering ruins and left behind an apocalyptic landscape. Officials said at least 12,300 structures were damaged or destroyed and firefighters from Canada, Mexico and seven other U.S. states converged on the Los Angeles area to help their California counterparts.
The return of strong winds threatens teams’ hard-fought progress in containing the fires. Over the weekend, firefighters from the air and land managed to stop the Palisades Fire as it moved into the upscale Brentwood area and moved toward the populous San Fernando Valley to the north.
The fire on the west side of the metropolis has covered 96 square kilometers and is 14 percent contained, a figure that represents the percentage of the fire’s perimeter that firefighters have under control.
The Eaton Fire in the foothills east of Los Angeles has scorched 57 square kilometers – nearly the size of Manhattan – even as containment has risen to 33 percent.
North of the city, the Hurst Fire was 89 percent contained, and three other fires that had ravaged other parts of the county were now 100 percent contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) reported, although areas within the The city may be affected. The containment lines may still be burning.
Caleb Serban-Lawler recounts the moment he drove up a mountain and into the Los Angeles wildfires to rescue a stranded woman and her four dogs.
“Like something out of a movie”
In Altadena, on the edge of the Eaton Fire, Tristin Perez said he never left his home and defied police orders to evacuate as the fire raced down the hillside.
Instead, Perez insisted on saving his property and his neighbors’ homes.
“Their front yard was on fire, the palm trees were glowing – it looked like something out of a movie,” Perez told Reuters in an interview in his driveway.
“I did everything I could to stop the line and save my house and help save their houses.”
As emergency crews continue to battle the devastating wildfires around Los Angeles, scientists and other experts are pushing back against misinformation ranging from how the fires started to the ongoing efforts to put out the flames.
Anticipating the threat of strong winds again on Monday, officials have warned the entire population of Los Angeles County (nearly 10 million residents) to prepare to evacuate.
As of Sunday afternoon, more than 100,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders — down from a previous peak of more than 150,000 — while another 87,000 were facing evacuation warnings.
