The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for most of California’s Los Angeles and Ventura counties on Tuesday for the area’s “extremely low relative humidity and periods of gusty offshore winds.”
The weather service said its “Particularly Dangerous Situation Red Flag warning has ended, but dangerous fire weather conditions persist through Thursday or Friday.” Northeast winds will remain “gusty” in the hills and mountains, the service said in a statement. Low humidities are set to continue.
Some areas will experience a lull in the winds Tuesday night into Wednesday, but extremely dry conditions will continue and winds will strengthen again late Wednesday, according to the weather service. The Red Flag Warning covers most of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties through 8 p.m. Thursday.
Earlier Tuesday, the weather service said there was an extreme risk of fire weather over parts of Southern California. The service said winds of 32 to 64 kilometers per hour, combined with “stronger winds in the terrain, low relative humidity, and dry fuels, have contributed to the dangerous conditions.”
Strong winds sparked some scattered fires Tuesday in Los Angeles, but alert firefighters quickly brought the fires under control.
At least 27 people have died in a series of wildfires across the Los Angeles area during the past two weeks as Santa Ana winds mixed with dry conditions on the ground to quickly spread blazes.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger has called for an outside investigation into the evacuation notification process for residents of western Altadena, near the Eaton Fire, one of several that erupted across Los Angeles. A report in the Los Angeles Times says evacuation orders for western Altadena were delayed for hours.
“From what I have been told, it was a night of pure chaos for both fire and first responders,” Barger told The Times. The county supervisor said she has “deep concerns” about what happened. Residents told the Times that by the time they received evacuation orders, many of the homes in the area already were on fire.
Seventeen people are reported to have died in the Eaton fire.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said an executive order she signed Tuesday is designed to curb the flow of toxic debris from the region’s fires and protect the area’s beaches and oceans.
“This is to prevent additional damage to areas already ravaged by fire and also to protect our watershed, beaches and ocean from toxic runoff,” the mayor said. City workers will remove toxic materials and set up barriers to direct the flow of debris into the sewer system.
Meteorologists say rain forecast for the region will begin late Friday and last until early Saturday. National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Lewis said “In terms of ending the fire season, it’s probably not going to be enough for that. But it’ll certainly help a little bit.”
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