California Fire Crews Race to Beat Next Round of Fierce Winds

Firefighters across California raced to tamp down major wildfires on Tuesday as another round of fierce Santa Ana winds headed to the state, where tens of thousands of people had already been driven from their homes and hundreds of thousands more were without power.

Fire crews made progress on Tuesday against the Getty fire near the Getty Museum in one of Los Angeles’ ritziest areas.

The fire had consumed 656 acres by Tuesday afternoon, and containment had risen to 15 per cent, fire authorities said.

The blaze appeared to have been sparked at about 1.34am on Monday in the Sepulveda Pass, not far from the museum, when a tree branch that had been snapped off by intense winds struck power lines, caught fire and dropped onto a brush-covered hillside below, the Los Angeles City Fire Department said. Thanks to the progress on Tuesday, a mandatory evacuation zone in West Los Angeles shrank to cover about 7,000 structures, including homes and businesses, officials said. The evacuation zone included homes belonging to some of Southern California’s richest and most famous residents, such as former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James. At least 12 homes had been destroyed, and five others had been damaged, fire officials said on Tuesday afternoon.

A “remarkable and dangerous” Santa Ana wind event expected on Tuesday night was forecast to make matters worse, delivering gusts of up to 70 mph in much of Southern California — and as high as 80 mph in mountain areas.

The National Weather Service said the renewed fire threat in parts of Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties would be “extremely critical,” a description it has rarely used before.

It said conditions would be “as dangerous for fire growth and behaviour as we have seen in recent memory.”

The weather service said that all of the elements of a strong Santa Ana wind event were lining up and that “most of these elements are very strong.”

“Unlike our previous events this October, this will not be a one day event,” it said. Tinder-dry brush in the region hasn’t seen rain for months. It’s been 125 days — about four months — since the last rain fell downtown and 95 days since it rained at Los Angeles International Airport.