California wildfires: high winds fuel multiple new blazes in south – live | US news

The dynamic winds are creating a high-stakes game of whack-a-mole for firefighters in California. As firefighters made progress on what’s been the largest of recent fires, the Kincade fire, a growing list of blazes have kicked up in southern California, currently under an “extreme red-flag” warning for the gusting Santa Ana winds whipping across the region.

In Riverside county, the Hill fire that started just after 11 am had consumed 200 acres by 2 pm. The Riverside county fire department reported that the blaze is currently only contained at 5%. One person with minor injuries has been transported to a local hospital. One mobile home and one residential home have been damaged.

Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued.

As the wind dies down and firefighters contain the Kincade fire, the Sonoma county sheriff is giving the greenlight for more county residents to return to their homes.

The evacuation orders have been lifted for four separate areas of the county, including the city of Santa Rosa, much of which had been under mandatory orders to leave.

The Kincade fire has been the biggest and most destructive of recent fires this season, burning nearly 77,000 acres and 206 structures over six days. Weakening winds offered a reprieve, and by this morning firefighters had been able to contain 30% of the fire.

My colleague Susie Cagle talked to some Sonoma county residents, still traumatized by a fire that devastated the area two years ago, who simply refused to leave their house, vowing instead to protect it from the flames.

Fire investigators meanwhile, are criss-crossing the county, assessing damaging and looking for clues as to which factors could best prevent, or at least resist, future fires.

A new fire, the Yosemite fire, has ignited near the area north of Los Angeles where authorities have already been working to extinguish the Easy fire, which ignited just after 6am today.

The fast-moving vegetation fire is spreading amid an “extreme red-flag warning” issued by the National Weather Service, an alert triggered by historic winds and bone-dry conditions.

Officials are expanding evacuaion orders as the fire moves. As of 1pm, about 7,000 homes 26,000 people were under evacuation orders.

Here’s a striking image from Los Angeles Times photographer Gina Ferazzi in Riverside county, where firefighters are battling the Hill fire that started this morning just after 11am and had chewed up 50 acres in about an hour, according to Cal Fire.

Firefighters working the Easy fire north of Los Angeles are dealing with a growing blaze, a situation frustrated by fast-moving Santa Ana winds gusting across southern California.

The fire that ignited just after 6am had charred 1,300 acres by noon, threatening about 6,500, an untold number of animals, and the 125,000 square foot Ronald Reagan Presidential Library perched on a nearby hillside.

Ventura County Fire Capt. Steve Kaufmann told the Los Angeles Times that high winds were complicating efforts to contain the blaze, dispersing water dropped by aircraft before it reached the fire.

“The air assets are challenging at best,” Kaufmann said. “You can see a lot of the water that’s coming from the super scoopers is atomized because of the wind. It’s definitely makes it challenging for us.”

By around 12:30pm, the fire had moved west was encroaching on the Classic Equestrian Center.

Rounding up animals and moving them to safety has been a major component of evacuations, an effort made more difficult for large, less-mobile animals like cows.

One rancher staring down the Easy fire apparently enlisted the help of a photographer to evacuate his horses, who appears to have been happy to oblige.

In addition to the Mureau brush fire that kicked up this morning just north of Malibu, a count one in southern California’s Riverside county and another to the north in Kern County.

The fire in riverside was reported at 7am, writes the Los Angeles Times. According to Cal Fire, five acres have burned, along with two vehicles and three buildings, and the fire is contained at 10%. LA Times says 119 firefighters have been dispatched to fight a blazed fueled by Santa Ana winds gusting up to 60 mph.

In Kern County, the area surrounding Bakersfield, a vegetation fire dubbed the Thief fire has burned about six to eight acres, but Kern county firefighters are holding the line.

A small brushfire that officials are referring to as the Mureau fire has kicked up in Calabasas, an area just north of Malibu. It has grown to five acres and the Los Angeles fire department is telling area residents to be prepared to evacuated.

The Los Angeles Times reports that aerial video shows that the fire ignited in the area where the Woolsey fire took place last year, a burn that left a scar so deep that it’s visible from space.

California’s neighbors to the east are sending reinforcements to help the Golden State battle wildfires, reports the Associated Press.

Fire agencies in Montana are sending 20 engines and 72 firefighters to California while Idaho plans to send five fire engines and 17 personnel.

Currently more than 5,000 firefighters in California are working the wildfires.

Fire has reached the doorstep of the Reagan library, as firefighters dig in to save the structure.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the fast-moving Easy fire, burning outside the library Wednesday morning, forced a number of people inside the structure to shelter in place:

Firefighters were at the facility prepared to provide structure protection. The flames were being held back by an aggressive ground and aerial attack on the ridges beyond Simi’s modern residential estates.

Helicopters repeatedly dropped loads of water behind the library in 60mph winds, turning the flames on the ridge 300ft below into smoke. Amid wind gusts strong enough to knock a person off balance, two super-scooper planes dipped down behind the library before unleashing such a volume of water it created its own rainbow.

Photographers on the scene have captured some remarkable images.

More than 1 million people in northern California were still without power on Wednesday as Pacific Gas & Electric initiated a new round of blackouts in 22 counties, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Parts of northern California, including areas just east and north of San Francisco, were spared from the blackouts after weather took a favorable turn. One area spared from an additional blackout was San Rafael, in Marin county, which on Tuesday morning was just blinking to life after a shutdown that lasted several days.

Residents there talked to me about the financial impact the blackouts would have on them and their families. Eddie, who works at a nearby restaurant, told me he had been out of work for four days after the lights went out at his place of business. He said the blackouts had affected the entire community and closed the grocery stores that were close enough for him to reach by foot.

“Schools have been closed. Nobody can go out and buy groceries. This area is really taking a hit and losing profit,” Eddie said.

Across the street from the transit station – where trains weren’t running thanks to the blackout – Colonial Liquor had just opened its doors after two days without power.

The man behind the counter, who declined to give his name, said: “I’m going to have to work for six months straight to make up what I lost.”

Bill Horton waited an extra hour for a bus to take him to his job in Petaluma because the trains weren’t running.

“I’ll be OK,” Horton said. “But so many of the people you see here riding public transit, they live pay check to pay check. They fight over those hours. They can’t afford to lose several days wages.”

The eucalyptus tree has been something of a menace in the history of California wildfires and has played a role in sparking the Getty fire in west Los Angeles, officials say.

Eric Garcetti, the Los Angeles mayor, said Tuesday that video footage shows a branch breaking off a eucalyptus tree and sparking the fire. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which operates the lines, said the utility recently cleared away nearby brush to reduce the risk of fire, but the the branch came from outside the clearance area. The mayor called it “an act of God”. (The fact that the wind played a significant role in sparking the fire is a good illustration of why PG&E began shutting off power to begin with).

The Los Angeles Times published video of what is believed to be the moment the Getty fire started.

The eucalyptus tree isn’t native to California is actually considered an invasive species. Not only can the trees alter fire patterns and soil moisture, but eucalyptus oil is highly flammable and in some places have been known to explode when they catch fire.

That’s why efforts have been made in California to clear away the tress in an effort to reduce fire risk.

KQED published this explainer several years ago on the tree’s role in fires:

Fifteen major fires roared through 9,000 acres of the East Bay Hills between 1923 and 1992, incinerating some 4,000 homes and killing 26 people. The Oakland “Tunnel” fire, considered the worst in California history, caused an estimated $1.5 billion in damage, destroyed more than 3,000 homes and killed 25 people. Following the Oakland fire, disaster experts urged large landowners in the East Bay Hills to work together to manage vegetation to prevent another catastrophic wildfire, says Tom Klatt, who manages environmental projects for UC Berkeley and serves on the UC Fire Mitigation Committee.

In early October, when PG&E started shutting off power in the area around Oakland as a way to reduce the threat of fire, I visited the Oakland Hills neighborhood and spoke with one home owner who had lived through the devastating fire in ‘92 and rebuilt her home on the same spot. She’s made sure to clear away the Eucalyptus trees on her property since then, she told me.

Mario Koran here, picking up the fire-watch from my colleague Joanna Walters. I’ll be bringing you the day’s wildfire news. Let’s get right to it…

A fire burning in Simi Valley, a suburb north-west of Los Angeles, is currently burning out of control. By 9.15am, the blaze had been underway for three hours, the Los Angeles Times reports. Authorities have dubbed it the Easy fire.

Portions of Simi Valley and the surrounding area are under mandatory evacuation orders and local schools have been closed for the day.