Red Flag fire warning in effect in LA County

LOS ANGELES - The first weekend of autumn is being greeted with a Red Flag Warning today, as desert-dry winds and high temperatures built across the region.

And due to the hot weather, the Los Angeles City Fire Department will be deploying trucks and firefighters into fire stations serving brush areas, reducing response times in the event of a fire, said Los Angeles city fire spokesperson Erik Scott.

And Los Angeles County firefighters will add a patrol strike team tonight at a fire camp in La Canada-Flintridge area, a dispatcher said.

Temperatures above 100 degrees were uniform across the San Fernando Valley by this afternoon, and the 1 p.m. reading at Saugus was 106. It will be even hotter tomorrow, the National Weather Service said. Gusty winds will blow from the northeast today, Sunday and into Monday, the NWS said. The winds will assume mild Santa Ana conditions -- high temperature, low humidity, sustained winds of 25 miles per hour and gusts up to 35 mph, by 8 p.m. tonight.

A Red Flag Warning was posted for the mountains north of Los Angeles and Ventura, as well as the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, effective tonight.

The NWS said it was not sure if Red Flags would be necessary in the San Fernando Valley or San Gabriel foothills, so those areas were placed on a mere fire weather watch.

The Los Angeles city fire department decided against banning on-street parking today on the narrow Hollywood Hills streets, where such parking can be banned if the fire department believes it to be prudent. A Red Flag Warning is issued when the combination of weather conditions is ripe for fire spread.