Stronger winds and dry vegetation are creating the conditions for fresh blazes in Southern California, officials said. The most destructive fires in state history have killed at least 24 people and displaced over 100,000.
Latest Update on the Fires
Strengthening winds are raising the risk of new fires across Southern California on Tuesday morning, even as several of the most destructive blazes in the state’s history continue to burn without full containment. The National Weather Service has issued an exceptionally rare red flag warning for “particularly dangerous” conditions, warning of the potential for “explosive fire growth.”
This warning, issued only twice before in 2020, applies to Los Angeles and Ventura counties. It forecasts wind gusts of 45 to 70 m.p.h. and extremely low humidity levels. These dire conditions follow a devastating week where high winds and dry weather fueled wildfires that have claimed at least 24 lives, with 23 others still missing. Over 100,000 residents have been forced to evacuate, and entire neighborhoods have been reduced to ashes.
A Mexican delegation of 72 firefighters, soldiers and civil protection officers was deployed on Monday to help authorities in the L.A. area combat the fires and carry out search and rescue operations, said the country’s coordinator of civil protection, Laura Velázquez Alzúa, in a news conference this morning. She said it was the first international delegation to join the fire-fighting efforts.
Winds in the L.A. area are picking up to a similar intensity as yesterday, with a few locations in Ventura County gusting to 40 m.p.h before sunrise. They are likely to gust even higher through the morning and be sustained at that speed, especially in the area of extremely critical fire weather conditions from the Ventura Valley to the San Bernardino Mountains.
