California Fires Flare In High Winds, But So Far No New Calamities, We Hope. Expected Rain Brings Joy And Worry

Smoke from a wildfire rises perilously close to some
apartment buildings Tuesday in San Diego. Firefighters
were able to put a stop to the fire. One of the apartment
buildings suffered minor damage. 

 It looks like Southern California got through the latest round of strong, dry winds that could have caused more calamitous wildfires not exactly unscathed, but better than it could have been.  

At least so far. The risk is far fro over as new fires broke out Wednesday amid continued gusty winds and arid conditions. 

The dry, strong winds have picked up again today and continue a threat of fast moving wildfires through Thursday morning. 

Numerous brush fires broke out amid the high winds Monday and Tuesday, but they were largely contained because additional firefighters had been staged in the region. 

Firefighters managed to get the upper hand on those fires before they could do much damage.

A worrisome exception might be a fire that broke out this morning in Rancho Bernardo, California, a little northeast of San Diego. At least one person has already been injured in the blaze and evacuations are underway. 

Video shows that fire was burning near a densely populated area. However, latest word as of 2 p.m. EST is that the fire showed signs of being brought under control. 

Another worrisome wildfire just broke out a couple hours before this writing in Castaic, California, near Santa Clarita. It, unfortunately was spreading rapidly amid strong winds and hasty evacuations were ongoing. 

At least two other wildfires broke out in the San Diego area on Tuesday, including one near a shopping mall and a dense collection of apartment buildings on steep hills. Looked dire, but firefighters appear to have defeated that fire, too, It looks like this blaze spread into and damaged one of the apartment buildings.  It appears firefighters saved most of that building, and the damage appeared to be rather minor. 

Near Los Angeles one fire popped up along the 405 in Granada Hills. Another spread through more than 40 acres in Riverside County. An arsonist set a fire in Griffith Park, but crews stopped it before it covered an acre and an arrest was made. 

Southern Californians are looking forward to finally seeing some rain that's in the forecast for the upcoming weekend.

The rain is obviously mostly great news, as it would at least temporarily tamp down the fire threat.  

Overall forecast rainfall amounts aren't expected to be excessively heavy, But a pool of cold air aloft could set off thunderstorms with locally heavy rain. If one of those downpours moves over any steep slopes where one of those massive fires raged this month, you're set up for some horrible debris flows. 

Especially since the fires just barely happened so everything is especially unstable.  The fires also cooked the surface of the soil, making it hard and impermeable to rain.  So the water runs off and as that water rushes downhill, it picks up debris. Whoever is then at the bottom of that hill is thus in real trouble.

Even then, the fire risk isn't over. It looks like southern California will turn rainless again after this weekend and that dry weather should last into February.  

Particularly Dangerous Fire Weather Returns to California Today; Could Create More Havoc After A Weekend Weather Break

A fire-ravaged neighborhood in California. Another spell
of extreme fire danger is starting in the Los Angles area
this afternoon, lasting at least into Tuesday.

Here we go again. It just doesn't end.

Southern California is now under big time fire warnings as the super dry winter continues and another round of exceptionally dangerous fire weather kicks in again. 

For the third time this month, the National Weather Service has issued what I guess was a once rare "particularly dangerous situation" warning for the fires. 

The hardest hit areas should have gusts in the 50 to 70 mph range this afternoon through Tuesday morning. Mountain areas could see gusts between 80 and 100 mph. 

Those kinds of winds would once again create extreme fire behavior and send embers miles ahead of the main blaze to start new blazes. If any fires start in this region today or tonight, they're absolutely screwed. 

Communities at highest risk include Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, Ventura, Oxnard and once again Malibu, which was hard hit during the last go-around with fires. 

"'All of the alarm bells are ringing and all of the lights are flashing red,' UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a briefing Sunday," as the Washington Post reports.

As in previous wind events this month, utilities are considering shutting off power to wind-prone electrical lines so that they don't spark fires if they snap in the gusts.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has deployed additional firefighters to southern California to get a jump on any new fires that might start. 

NOAA's Fire Weather Forecast warns of extremely critical fire weather in and near the San Gabriel, Santa Monica and Santa Susana Mountains in southern California.

Although the winds will abate somewhat Tuesday afternoon, they'll continue dry and gusty at least into Thursday, continuing the fire threat. 

 The San Diego area and the mountains to its east are also under the gun for strong, dry winds today that  could set off fast moving, scary fires there.  The San Diego area has so far been spared the worst of this month's California fire nightmare. I'm not sure it will continue, but let's hope so

The renewed winds could undo some real progress over the past few days with the giant wildfires. As far as I've heard, no additional houses have burned down in recent days. 

NBC4 in Los Angeles reported as of Sunday, the biggest blaze, the Palisades Fire, is at the halfway point of containment, and has so far burned 23,700 acres. It has so far destroyed 3,857 structures, if you include residential, commercial and other buildings. It has damaged 628 other structures.

The Eaton Fire, the one that chewed through neighborhoods in Altadena, is more than three-quarters contained. This fire was even more calamitous than the other one, having destroyed 9,300 homes, businesses and other buildings and damaged 1,044 others, says NBC 4. 

So far the death toll is 27, with 31 additional people reported as missing. I'm praying today and tomorrow don't make this statistic worse.

There is some hope. The forecast is a little iffy, but there's at least the possibility of rain -finally - in southern California this weekend. It's unknown how much rain will fall. It could be a bust, it could be a decent half inch of water.  

Let's hope that storm ends up materializing@ 

 What would take if you had minutes to leave?  The Washington Post had a great article in which they asked people who fled what they hastily grabbed as the flames bore down on their houses.

Really a great read.  

 

Wednesday California Fires Update: So Far, No New Big Catacylsm, But Deep Danger, Sorrow Remain

Areas in red are under a red flag warning, meaning destructive
fires are possible today. Areas outlined in purple are in a 
"particularly dangerous situation" where any fires that
start or spread would be extremely fast moving and
erratic. Click on map to make it bigger easier to see.

A glimmer of good news in California Tuesday as winds weren't quite as strong as forecast, helping firefighters hold the lines on the giant wildfires burning there. 

But today could be a long one. 

Winds have picked up dangerously, gusting to 50 mph in some areas. That's more than enough to spread embers and start new fires. Early morning video from television KTLA early this morning showed fairly strong, gusty winds already blowing through Ventura County.

Reports of 35 to 50 mph with higher gusts have been coming in all morning. That rare, "particularly dangerous situation" fire weather warning remains in effect through 3 p.m, local time today for Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Residents have been told to have  a "to go" bad ready by the front door, and be ready to leave, and quickly at the drop of a hat. 

There are far more firefighters deployed in and around Los Angeles today than when the fires started last week, so the hope is those resources can gain the upper hand if a new fire starts. 

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports about 50 arrests for looting, flying drones in fire zones, violating curfew and other crimes. Three of those were arrested for arson, but the fires they allegedly started remained small, were quickly put out, and were not near the disaster zone.

So far, the death toll is 25, but up to 30 people remain missing. Searchers are looking for bodies in the rubble of some of the worst hit neighborhoods, 

Here's one snapshot of the new reality Angelenos are facing. One resident said the sound of helicopters rattling around overhead all night and through the pre-dawn hours would have once driven him nuts. But the fact that those helicopters are trying to prevent more destruction is actually soothing, and helps him fall asleep. 

 OUTLOOK

If the region can get through today without existing fires going out of control again or new ones igniting, then the region gets a brief reprieve,  

Winds should relax again toward evening  and stay fairly calm at least through Saturday, which is great. Some of the lighter breezes could actually come off the Pacific  Ocean instead of the desert. Those ocean winds will bring a little needed humidity, but unfortunately no rain.

 Plus, the nightmare is far from over.  Meteorologists say strong, dry easterly winds might redevelop early next week, and there is still no real rain in the forecast through the end of the month

A new fire started in Ventura County Monday evening, forcing some evacuations.  But firefighters managed to put a stop its forward progress  after it consumed about 61 acres. Thankfully, so far no houses or other buildings, and the fire is about half contained.

Another fire started Tuesday evening in the San Fernando Valley, but firefighters quickly pounced on it. So far, that fire hasn't spread too much, and it hasn't prompted evacuations and it's still largely under control.

Fingers crossed there. 

A very large wildfire was burning in Mexico, just south of the International border below San Diego County, California. While the U.S. is not immediately threatened by the fire, it bears watching. 

Videos:

Some dog videos in the mix this time. 

In this first one, I have to tell the back story. It's heartbreaking but ultimately has a happy ending. On the first day of the fire, NBC reporter Liz Kruetz interviewed a distraught man trying to reach his home where his two dogs were trapped as the fire closed in. "I literally rescued them off the street, they deserve better than this," Casey Colvin tearfully told the reporter. 

Firefighters rescued one of Colvin's dogs before his house was consumed by flames, but the other one, Oreo ran off. For several days, he worried about dog, though there were photos indicating Oreo was still alive, 

Then, the same reporter helped Colvin get to his destroyed house on Sunday, where he found Oreo alive. The reunion is joyous. 

If any of you trolls pick on this guy for his emotions, I hope the rest of your life is one of misery. The traumatized man represents all of those victimized and distraught by the fire. They're clinging to any good news they can get. Colvin represents them all. 

Click on this link to watch this gripping video, or if you see the image below click on that. Make sure the Kleenex is handy:  

In this case, a dog is rescued from the fire. The understandably frightened dog was trapped in the yard of a house in flames. First responders rescued it, and a photographer snapped photos. This inspired an outpouring of donations to help dogs and other animals who were victims of the fire. .  Click on this link to view or if you see the image below, click on that. 

In the next video, a passerby in a neighborhood rescues a woman and her four dogs whose house is on fire and whose car won't start, They braved a blizzard of burning embers to get out of harms way. The video is pretty harrowing. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below click on that.

A drive through Altadena, California after the fire. You can tell despite the destruction this was an absolutely beautiful community. If there were no fire, I'd live there in a heartbeat.  Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below click on that.