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Southern California is in the midst of a major heat wave courtesy of our good friends the Santa Ana winds, and the combination of extreme heat and strong winds usually leads to one outcome: fires. As such, the National Weather Service has placed a red flag fire warning on Los Angeles and Ventura Counties as well as sections of Santa Barbara County. The warnings are in place through Tuesday.
We already knew L.A. would face record-breaking heat this Monday and Tuesday, but now those 100+ degree weather forecasts come with some fire warnings as well.
Red Flag conds thru Tue for mod to locally strong #SantaAnaWinds Mon/Tue w/ record temps over 100 degs for portions of SW #CAWX. #LAWeather pic.twitter.com/X9alphzfZw
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) October 22, 2017
The National Weather Service says the highest-risk days will be Monday and Tuesday, "when there will be increasing coverage and intensity of Santa Ana winds, record breaking triple digit heat, humidities lowering into the single digits, and very dry fuels." NWS also says the warning may need to extend into Wednesday because low humidity and lingering winds are expected through that day.
Cal Fire director Ken Pimlott says fire agencies are fully prepared to face any fires that may ignite. "Not only do we have state, federal and local fire resources, but we have additional military aircraft on the ready. Firefighters from other states, as well as Australia, are here and ready to help in case a new wildfire ignites," he said, according to the L.A. Times. This level of preparedness is necessary; NWS says this set of warnings involves the "most dangerous fire weather conditions that Southwest California has seen in the past few years."
Meanwhile, upstate, the North Bay wildfires have nearly reached full containment. Over 8,000 firefighters are still working to contain the remaining fires.