Firefighters battling the deadly Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties are Sunday preparing for a return of dangerous Santa Ana winds that could drive the flames further as they work to save lives and homes and contain flames within lines of cleared vegetation.
As of about 8:30 p.m Saturday, Cal Fire said the fire had grown to 83,275 acres and was 5 percent contained by lines of cleared vegetation. Firefighters were working to make the most of the reprieve.
A total of 57,000 structures were threatened and 177 of structures were confirmed destroyed with hundreds more likely. The bodies of two people were found dead inside a vehicle in a long driveway in the 33000 block of Mulholland Highway, Deputy Aura Sierra of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau said.
The fire — which began Thursday afternoon — has forced the evacuation of at least 75,000 homes and an estimated 265,000 people in both counties as it indiscriminately consumed multi-million-dollar mansions and mobile homes. The cause remained under investigation, Cal Fire said.
Los Angeles police Capt. Don Graham and Los Angeles County sheriff’s Chief John Benedict both said mandatory evacuation orders remained in effect but the Ventura County Fire Department reported that mandatory evacuation orders have been lifted in pockets of Simi Valley, Long Canyon, Wood Ranch, Thousand Oaks, Bridal Path and Erbes Road.
Santa Ana winds were forecast to return Sunday morning and were expected to first pick up in the mountains between 5 and 7 a.m., National Weather Service Meteorologist Curt Kaplan said. The winds will steadily increase to 50-60 mph in the mountains with gusts of up to 70 mph, he said. A High Wind Warning was in effect until Tuesday night.
Offshore winds in the valleys could intensify between 8 and 10 a.m. with gusts of 35-50 mph., Kaplan said.
A Red Flag Warning remained in effect for Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Tuesday, he said.
Kaplan was optimistic the winds would be weaker than they were Thursday and Friday and will be strongest in the mornings and early afternoons through Tuesday, giving firefighters a nightly reprieve.
The smoke that has shrouded much of Southern California should be pushed out to sea by the returning Santa Anas between 11 a.m and noon, Kaplan said.
Wind was forecast to be “weakly off-shore” Wednesday through Friday, he said.
At a news conference Saturday afternoon, law enforcement and fire officials as well as politicians expressed concern about the return of Santa Ana winds.
Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenson said, “My message to the men and women on the front lines is, don’t be lulled into a false sense of security because we had a break in the winds today. Mother Nature will return and she will bring back those winds and turn them up tomorrow. So we need to stay alert.”
Graham also said the LAPD has been putting together a plan for road closures and evacuations in advance of Sunday’s winds.
Benedict emphasized that looting will not be tolerated. At least 200 deputies will look for looters while doing property evaluations in Westlake Village, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Malibu.
“If you come into these affected areas to try and take advantage of the destruction and the suffering of these residents, you will be arrested, charged and we will take you to jail,” he said.
No looters have been found and arrested so far in Los Angeles County, Benedict said.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Eric Buschow said at least two people have been arrested on suspicion of looting in his county.
Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Daryl Osby said damage assessment teams were in the areas effected by the fire to update the numbers of structures lost or damaged. He noted fire information would be available online at www.lacounty.gov/woolseyfire.
California Highway Patrol Lt. Kevin Kurker told reporters the CHP was expecting to reopen the Ventura (101) Freeway but he couldn’t give a specific time when it would happen.
A town hall for residents will be held Sunday at 5 p.m. at Taft Charter High School in the 5400 block of Winnetka Avenue in Woodland Hills, where attendees will have a chance to question various authorities about the fire fight.
The expected return of the winds Sunday has led to the re-imposition of the Red Flag Parking Restriction Program, which will go into effect starting at 8 a.m., Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said, warning that illegally parked vehicles will be towed.
Motorists should look for “No Parking” signs posted in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones. For a map of those zones, go to www.lafd.org./news/woolsey-fire.
One key element in making the most of Saturday’s reprieve was the addition of more mutual aid firefighters.
The Los Angeles City Fire Department sent more than 25 fire companies to battle the Woolsey Fire, Stewart said. The U.S. Forest Service has dispatched two crews numbering 32 people to assist, according to the department.
The Orange County Fire Authority added five engines and bulldozer to the Woolsey fire battle, OCFA Capt. Steven Concialdi said. Concialdi also said that the OCFA had sent up Friday morning another 10 engines to cover fire stations in Los Angeles City and Los Angeles County. Five were stationed at city stations and five were located at county stations, he said.
Crews from other agencies, including Arizona, were also assisting in battling the massive blaze, helping to evacuate residents and providing traffic control.
Los Angeles County fire strike teams and water dropping aircraft were working to contain the flames on or around the Pepperdine campus. No permanent structures have been lost, but video from the campus showed at least one vehicle and several bicycles scorched by flames.
Pepperdine University reported on Twitter that it had no flames on its Malibu campus as of 3:42 p.m. Saturday but it was closely monitoring the wildfires and weather. The university lifted a shelter-in-place order that had been in effect, canceled all school events for Saturday, and officials later announced that all classes and events on the school’s Malibu and Calabasas campuses would be closed through Tuesday.
All Malibu schools in the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District will remain closed until at least Thursday, the district announced.
The City of Malibu reported that all mandatory evacuation orders remain in effect and no one will be permitted to re-enter Malibu until further notice.
Active fires were still burning in Malibu as of Saturday evening. The city said there will likely be intermittent power outages in Malibu due to weather and fire conditions.
Malibu also has established a new website to update fire information on a continuous basis. The site is located at www.malibucity.org/woolsey.
The superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District in Calabasas said district leaders were visiting schools Saturday and would meet Sunday to assess air quality and overall safety issues before issuing a district-wide email to families about the school schedule for the rest of the week.
The fire started in Ventura County but raced into Los Angeles County, chewed its way through brush and into neighborhoods of Westlake Village and Malibu. The fire reportedly jumped Pacific Coast Highway Friday evening, moving toward Malibu Colony.
Residents who evacuated from Malibu were directed to southbound Pacific Coast Highway, creating miles of stand-still traffic along the scenic route. Authorities wound up closing the road to all northbound traffic out of Santa Monica, allowing southbound motorists to use all four lanes.
North of the Ventura (101) Freeway, evacuated residents in the Hidden Hills and other neighborhoods were directed north toward Chatsworth and the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway.
Authorities later ordered mandatory evacuations for the West Hills area in the San Fernando Valley, not far from the fire’s origin.
Spectrum customers in the wildfire area were without cable and Internet service Saturday as repair teams worked to restore service, a statement from the company said.
Driven by 50- to 60-mph winds, the flames jumped south across the 101 Freeway in the Liberty Canyon area early Friday, sending it on a course through Malibu and its exclusive celebrity enclaves.
It was unclear how many homes were lost as the fire relentlessly advanced, but on-scene crews reported dozens of structures burning in various canyons. There also were reports of flames ripping through an apartment building and a mobile home park, along with people calling authorities to say they were trapped in burning structures.
Evacuation orders affected the entire area south of the 101 Freeway from the Ventura County line to Topanga Canyon Boulevard, south to the Pacific Ocean.
As of 1 p.m. Saturday, road closures included all lanes of the northbound and southbound 101 from Valley Circle Blvd to Reyes Adobe Rd. Northbound Pacific Coast Highway is closed at Sunset Boulevard, while southbound PCH is closed at Las Posas Rd. Topanga Canyon Boulevard is closed from Mulholland Drive to PCH.
The American Red Cross announced the nearest evacuation center for residents of Malibu was at Palisades High School, 15777 Bowdoin St., in Pacific Palisades. Evacuation centers also were established at Canoga Park Senior High School at 6850 Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Canoga Park, at Rancho Santa Susana Recreation Center at 5005-C Los Angeles Ave. in Simi Valley and at Taft High School at 5461 Winnetka Ave. in Woodland Hills, although it was reported to be at capacity.
Evacuation centers for animals were opened Friday morning at Hansen Dam, 11770 Foothill Blvd. in Lake View Terrace, after the evacuation center at Pierce College in Woodland Hills reached capacity. And a large animal evacuation center was established at the Zuma Beach parking lot in Malibu. Industry Hills Expo Center in the San Gabriel Valley was also offering shelter for horses from fire-affected areas. In Ventura County, Borchard Community Center at 190 Reino Rd. in Newbury Park was accepting dogs and cats, while the Camarillo Community Center at 1605 E. Burnley St. was accepting small animals.
The devastation has been swift since the fire broke out at about 2:25 p.m. Thursday in Ventura County south of Simi Valley, pushed by strong Santa Ana winds.
Early Friday, the whipping winds prevented fire commanders from ordering aerial assaults in the early morning hours. Some flights began at 5:30 a.m. as the wind died down, but winds quickly began picking up again as dawn broke.
Heavy smoke and strong winds hampered visibility for crews on the fire lines and residents trying to evacuate fire zones.
Winds died down Saturday, but were expected to pick up again by Sunday afternoon, as the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for gusty winds and low humidity in effect through Tuesday afternoon.
President Donald J. Trump addressed on Twitter Saturday the state’s wildfires — including the 100,000-acre Camp Fire in Northern California’s Butte County believed to have killed at least nine people.
“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor,” the president tweeted. “Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Saturday that he doesn’t think Trump’s comments mean that the state would miss out on federal aid.
“I spoke with the White House to special homeland security adviser Admiral Douglas Fears a little earlier to ensure that federal assistance comes,” Garcetti told The Hollywood Reporter.
A pointed response to Trump’s attack on California’s forest management was issued Sunday by California Professional Firefighters President Brian Rice.
“The president’s message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of cataclysmic fires is ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines,” Rice said.
Later Saturday, Trump sent two more tweets about the fires.
“These California fires are expanding very, very quickly (in some cases 80-100 acres a minute). If people don’t evacuate quickly, they risk being overtaken by the fire. Please listen to evacuation orders from State and local officials!”
“More than 4,000 are fighting the Camp and Woolsey Fires in California that have burned over 170,000 acres,” the president said. “Our hearts are with those fighting the fires, the 52,000 who have evacuated, and the families of the 11 who have died. The destruction is catastrophic. God Bless them all.”
Meanwhile, firefighters were reporting progress on the much smaller Hill Fire north of Malibu and south of Simi Valley. That wildfire was 65 percent contained and consumed 4,531 acres with two structures destroyed and no other structures threatened. No civilians or firefighters were killed or injured and full containment was expected Wednesday.