Southern California is bracing for another round of Santa Ana winds that could fuel fires

California: Southern California is now preparing for another wave of fire-fueling Santa Ana winds, although crews continued to make headway against the fatal infernos raging in Los Angeles County during a short respite from catastrophic fire weather over the weekend.

The National Weather Service issued “Particularly Dangerous Situation” red flag warnings for a large portion of the foothills and mountainous regions of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, including Malibu, from noon on Monday through 10 a.m. PT on Tuesday. This means that conditions like low humidity and strong winds will make fires more likely.

The Weather Service said on Sunday that “this will create a high risk for critical fire weather conditions and rapid fire spread with any new fires,” in addition to the exceptionally dry fuels.

In a statement released on Sunday, Governor Gavin Newsom claimed that “more than 130 fire engines, water tenders, and aircraft have been mobilized to Southern California.”

The situation is made worse by the fact that there is little chance of rain this week and that almost all of Southern California is experiencing a severe drought.

As concerns are raised over the local reaction to the catastrophe and whether the Los Angeles Fire Department was adequately prepared, the weather service has issued red flag warnings that encompass the majority of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

On January 9, a local in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, California, inspects properties that were destroyed by the Palisades Fire.

Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, is under fire for the timing of a vacation abroad and for slashing the fire department’s budget months earlier.

Although the predicted 25 to 40 mph winds for late Monday and Tuesday are less than those of prior recent wind storms, they may still reach 100 mph in the foothills and mountains and 50 to 70 mph in the lowlands and along the coast.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on Sunday that the Eaton Fire, which has burnt 14,021 acres, was 81% contained and the Palisades Fire, which has scorched 23,713 acres, was 56% controlled.

According to fire authorities and the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, the flames have burned hundreds of houses and claimed the lives of at least 27 individuals. According to the sheriff’s office, over 41,000 residents in Los Angeles County were still under an evacuation order or warning on Saturday.

Many inhabitants are still waiting to be permitted to return to their houses in order to inspect damage, gather essentials, determine their insured losses, and determine what can be salvaged of their surviving property, although other locations that were previously under evacuation orders have reopened to residents.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said on Sunday that evacuation orders had been removed in parts of the severely affected Altadena.

However, according to LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone on Thursday, many locals will have to wait at least another week before it’s safe to go back.

Crystal Kolden, a professor and wildfire researcher at the University of California, Merced, said, “There’s this extreme level of frustration.”

“However, that frustration is actually a result of attempting to keep them safe.”

Michael Hart, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said on Sunday that the agency has already given wildfire survivors about $32 million.

The city said in a statement on Sunday that Pasadena would begin enforcing red flag parking restrictions on Monday. According to the city, the parking limitations on the “narrow and/or winding roads within Pasadena’s urban-wildland interface areas” would “allow for improved fire department access and resident evacuation.”

“We want people to be ready, not scared,” Lisa Derderian, the city’s public information officer, told CNN on Sunday.

Because of the high winds and the debris from the fires, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued a windblown dust and ash alert.

Leaders were alerted by the fire chief of the city’s “weakness” in combating wildfires.

Two years ago, Kristin Crowley, the chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, cautioned the city’s board of fire commissioners that if the issue of a regularly staffed wildland “hand crew” is not resolved, it might become a concern.

“Weakness in the line can mean the difference in containment or out-of-control spread on a wildland fire without this resource methodically creating and supporting fire line,” Crowley wrote in a document dated January 5, 2023, which was originally published by The Washington Post.

The Post claims that the sole hand crew in Los Angeles is a volunteer, part-time, mostly adolescent group that uses chainsaws, axes, and shovels to prevent flames from spreading.

There was no professional Los Angeles Fire Department unit prepared to handle the first assault when flames advanced on residences in the Pacific Palisades last week, according to the newspaper. When the Palisades Fire broke out on January 7, the first crews to arrive were from Los Angeles County and the state of California.

In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, stated, “The mayor quadrupled the allocation for wildland hand crews—fully resourcing our LAFD has always been a priority for the administration, and with climate change getting worse every year, we’re accelerating these efforts to protect Angelenos.”

The LAFD has fewer employees than almost every other big city, according to a CNN review of the most current statistics from the ten largest US cities and other similar agencies.