Calmer winds give California respite from fire

FOREST INFERNO: Firefighters battling a wildfire in southern California on Thursday.

CALMER WEATHER has allowed fire crews to step up containment efforts on wildfires after three weeks of winds fanned blazes across California.

The fires led utilities in the US state to cut electricity to prevent winds from blowing branches into power lines and igniting.

Winds have subsided in virtually all parts of California, though Red Flag warnings for fire danger because of winds and ultradry conditions remained in place last night for some inland areas around Los Angeles.

Lingering winds were blamed for churning up a fresh wildfire that erupted on Thursday evening and quickly spread from a hilltop near Santa Paula, north of Los Angeles.

Authorities in Ventura County ordered evacuations for about 7,500 people in an area that includes roughly 1,800 buildings as the blaze threatened the small unincorporated rural community of Somis.

Hundreds of firefighters tackled the blaze, which initially was fanned by moderate winds and then fuelled by tinder-dry brush in canyons.

It grew in only a few hours to around 7,400 acres – just over 11 square miles – before midnight. The fire could spread over 12,000 acres before running out of fuel.

Meanwhile, dozens of local schools across several districts announced closures.

For most of October, fires forced residents to flee their homes at all hours as flames indiscriminately burned barns, sheds, mobile homes and multimillion-dollar mansions.

The good news is that dry, dangerous winds that swept both ends of the state this week had mostly subsided and forecasters predicted an upcoming week of placid conditions.

Nearly 200,000 Sonoma County residents were allowed to return home even as the 120-square-mile fire which forced them to evacuate continued to burn. At least 140 homes were destroyed.

The most devastating wildfires in California’s history have occurred in the past two years.