Southern California faces the most urgent warning for high winds, extreme fire danger

The Santa Ana wind forecast for Southern California has worsened, and officials say conditions will bring “the risk of significant fire growth” starting Monday.

The National Weather Service office in Oxnard on Sunday issued the most extreme version of its red flag fire weather warning, known as an “extremely hazardous situation” alert.

Much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties are likely to be affected, including burned areas in Malibu and Altadena, weather service meteorologists said. They warned residents to brace themselves for the event, which is expected to start at noon on Monday and continue until 10 p.m. 10 Tuesday.

Gusts of 50 to 70 mph are forecast for the coasts and valleys. In the mountains and foothills, gusts of 60 to 80 mph are expected with isolated gusts of 100 mph.

“We want to encourage people to prepare that evacuation plan for you, your loved one, pet — pack essentials, get emergency kit ready just in case. Gas up cars and generators, secure outdoor items and adjust travel plans,” said Rose Schoenfeld, a weather service meteorologist.

In addition to Malibu and Altadena, the warning includes Burbank, Santa Clarita, Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Azusa. Ojai and Pasadena fall outside the limit, Schoenfeld said.

A conventional red flag warning — indicating critical fire weather conditions and rapid fire spread with any new ignition — is already in effect for wide swaths of Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties as of 6 p.m. 10 Monday to and including 22.00 Tuesday.

The new warning is an unprecedented fifth issuance of a “special hazardous situation” enhancement to a red flag warning in a single season by the weather service’s Oxnard office, which covers Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

The first three times the office issued the warning, it was followed by fires that ignited and spread quickly — the 19,904-hectare Mountain fire in Ventura County in November, which razed 243 buildings; the 4,037-acre Franklin Fire, which spread rapidly in Malibu and destroyed 20 buildings in December; and this month’s Palisades and Eaton fires, among the most destructive and deadly in modern California history.

The weather service in Oxnard first began issuing “special hazardous situation” warnings in 2020. It issued two that year, in October and December. No others were issued before November 2024.

Over the weekend, firefighters battled the new threat of high winds to increase containment of the wildfires still burning in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena — red flag areas.

As of Sunday, the Palisades fire, which has burned more than 23,700 acres and killed at least 10 people, was 56% contained, according to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Eaton fire, which has charred more than 14,000 acres and killed at least 17 people, was 81% contained.

Twenty-seven people are still reported missing: 20 from the Eaton fire and seven from the Palisades, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Late Sunday, there were still communities near the Palisades fire remained under evacuation ordersAlthough areas where residents, and only residents, were allowed to enter had expanded to Palisades Highlands, with daily escort at 10.00 and at 17.00 Evacuation warnings were the promise in other areas.

Meanwhile, in Altadena, areas north of Mendocino and Harriet streets remained under evacuation orders. South of that, the area north of Woodbury Road between Lincoln Avenue to the west and Lake Avenue to the east was still under an evacuation warning Sunday evening.

The Altadena sheriff’s station remained closed after concerns about airborne pollutants triggered a California Department of Occupational Safety and Health complaint last weekalthough Sheriff Robert Luna said Sunday he expected it to reopen in the early part of this week.

More than 2,700 federal and state firefighters continued to battle the Eaton fire Sunday — slightly fewer than the previous day, when some firefighters were relieved of duty. Carlos Herrera, the LA County Fire Department’s public information officer, said officials would continue to release firefighters — who have come from across the country as well as Canada and Mexico — as the containment increases.

But the department will remain in communication with weather experts to staff appropriately, “especially in Altadena in Mt. Lowe and Mt. Wilson — some places where we’re looking at getting containment,” Herrera said. “We have plenty of resources.”

At a town hall Sunday afternoon, Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Jed Gaines echoed that sentiment — but with a hint of concern in light of the forecast for the coming days.

“We are confident that this fire will remain within the current footprint it has today,” he said, “but we are concerned if there are new starts in the area.”

More than 5,600 firefighters remained assigned to the Palisades fire Sunday, roughly the same number as the day before.

Melanie Miller, Palisades incident public information officer, said crews were doing “contingency planning” in preparation for more wind and were in a wait-and-see phase to see if a change in action would be necessary or if some resources could be released.

Other regions affected by the warning include Santa Monica and the San Gabriel Valley. Areas outside the red flag warning zone include the LA basin, such as downtown LA, Torrance and Long Beach, and coastal San Diego and Orange counties.

Malibu resident Kathy King prepared for what might come with the wind.

“I’m worried we’re going to have a repeat of what we saw a week ago, 10 days ago,” she said Sunday while shopping. “We know that once a fire starts, it’s very difficult to turn it around.”

Her home near Point Dume survived the 2018 Woolsey fire when almost all the others on her street burned. But the Palisades fire destroyed the real estate office where she works in Pacific Palisades. The new weather warning has her on high alert.

“I can’t even sleep when they predict it because I think I have to be ready to jump in the car,” King said.

Michelle Harrison and her husband lost their home in an unincorporated area of ​​LA County just outside Malibu city limits when the Palisades Fire broke out on January 7th.

Now Harrison fears for those who could face even more threatening weather in Malibu this week.

“It’s just tragic,” she said. “I hope they have enough firefighters here, which I think they do now, to stop” any fire that might break out in the coming days.

Since this is more of a traditional Santa Ana wind event with winds coming out of the east to northeast, Ventura County will be an area of ​​high concern.

In LA County, the areas of greatest concern include the western San Fernando Valley, Calabasas, Agoura Hills, the western San Gabriel Mountains and the Grapevine section of Interstate 5.

Residents should secure loose outdoor items such as patio furniture; adjust travel times between Monday evening and Tuesday morning; charge electronics, flashlights and battery packs; filling the fuel tanks of emergency generators; and move cars away from trees that appear fragile, Schoenfeld said.

Experts warn people against keeping certain items within 5 feet of your home, such as outdoor furniture, umbrellas, trash and recycling bins. Getting rid of all dead or live weeds is also a good idea, as is clearing gutters, roofs, decks, porches and stairs of flammable materials such as leaves and needles.

“And then when the wind starts, stay away from trees, windows. And be extremely careful again, with anything that can start a fire,” Schoenfeld said.

Gusts could be strong enough to knock over big rigs and RVs and trigger power outages that could last several days, the weather service said. And on Sunday night, county public health officials issued one advised of windblown dust and ashwho warn that the expected wind gusts could spread ash across the county and reduce air quality – especially in areas downwind of recent burn scars.

Very dry conditions are expected all week, with the driest Tuesday, the weather service says. Relative humidity may drop to as low as 5% in the western San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita, Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, and Fillmore.

Fire weather concerns will continue through the week, Schoenfeld said, with more Santa Ana winds possible Thursday. The weather service may end the red flag warning on Tuesday or extend it to Thursday.

There is some chance of rain in about a week. But at this point, it doesn’t appear to be the kind of soaking that would be needed to end the fire season, Schoenfeld said.

There is about a 50% to 70% chance of rain from Jan. 25 to 27, Schoenfeld said, and a 20% to 30% chance of thunderstorms.

“It doesn’t look like a really soaking rain for a wide swath of the area,” Schoenfeld said. “It’s frankly bad news for our fire season going forward.”

Times staff writers Melody Gutierrez and Libor Jany contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.