Los Angeles wind forecasts this week trigger red flag warning for wildfires

Dangerously high winds were expected to resume on Monday in Los Angeles, potentially hampering efforts to extinguish two stubborn wildfires that have levelled whole neighbourhoods and claimed the lives of at least two dozen people.

Dry Santa Ana winds of up to 80 to 112 kilometres per hour were forecast to resume on Monday and persist through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said in issuing a “particularly dangerous situation” red flag warning.

The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, fire behaviour analyst Dennis Burns warned at a community meeting Sunday night.

In anticipation, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said over the weekend that the state was pre-positioning firefighting in vulnerable areas including those around the Palisades and Eaton fires, the two largest blazes that have ignited in Southern California.

At least 24 people have died in the fires that began on Jan. 7. The blazes have reduced whole neighbourhoods to smoldering ruins, leaving an apocalyptic landscape. Officials said at least 12,300 structures have been damaged or destroyed, and firefighters from Canada, Mexico and seven other U.S. states have converged on the Los Angeles area to help their California-based counterparts.

The return of high winds threatens the hard-won progress that crews have made in containing the fires. Over the weekend, aerial and land-based firefighters managed to stop the Palisades Fire as it encroached on the upscale Brentwood section and advanced toward the populous San Fernando Valley in the north.

That fire on the western side of the metropolis has consumed 96 square kilometres and stood at 14 per cent contained, a figure representing the percentage of the fire’s perimeter that firefighters have under control.

The Eaton Fire in the foothills east of Los Angeles has scorched 57 square kilometres — itself nearly the size of Manhattan — though containment has risen to 33 per cent.

North of the city, the Hurst Fire was 89 per cent contained, and three other fires that had ravaged other parts of the county were now 100 per cent contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) reported, though areas within the containment lines may still be burning.

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‘Like something out of a movie’

In Altadena on the edge of the Eaton Fire, Tristin Perez said he never left his home, defying police orders to evacuate as the fire raced down the hillside.

Instead, Perez insisted on trying to save his property and his neighbours’ homes.

“Your front yard is on fire, palm trees lit up — it looked like something out of a movie,” Perez told Reuters in an interview in his driveway.

“I did everything I could to stop the line and save my house, help save their houses.”

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In anticipation of high winds returning on Monday, officials have warned the entire Los Angeles County population of nearly 10 million to be ready to evacuate.

As of Sunday afternoon, more than 100,000 people in Los Angeles County were under an order to evacuate — down from a previous high of more than 150,000 — while another 87,000 faced evacuation warnings.