Winds driving California fires die down
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Calmer weather allowed crews to increase containment on wildfires after a three-week siege of gusts fanned blazes across California and led utilities to cut power to prevent winds from blowing branches into electric lines and igniting an inferno.
Winds subsided in virtually all parts of the state, though Red Flag warnings for fire danger because of winds and ultra-dry conditions remained in place through Friday evening for some inland areas to the north and west of Los Angeles.
Lingering winds were blamed for churning up a wildfire that erupted Thursday evening and quickly spread from a hilltop near Santa Paula, north of Los Angeles.
Authorities 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 raced to attack the blaze, which initially was fanned by moderate winds and then was fueled by tinder-dry brush in canyons. It grew in only a few hours to over 6 square miles (16 square kilometers).
For most of October, fires sprang up across the state, forcing residents to flee homes at all hours as flames indiscriminately burned barns, sheds, mobile homes and multimilliondollar mansions.
The good news was 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 (311square-kilometer) fire that forced them to evacuate continued to burn. At least 140 homes were destroyed.