Winds are gusting above hurricane force in California, new wildfire in the Los Angeles area
Wildfires continued to rage on both ends of California as officials anxiously monitored the state’s whipping winds, which have been breathing dangerous life into the Kincade and Getty fires for days — and began fueling an explosive new brush fire in Southern California on Wednesday morning.
The Easy Fire, which ignited Wednesday in Ventura County, rapidly spread to nearly 1,300 acres in just a few hours, triggering mandatory evacuation orders in the area surrounding the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley and threatening 6,500 homes. The fire is spreading amid dangerous weather, with humidity plunging into the single digits as winds gust above hurricane force.
Large swaths of the state remained under “red flag” warnings Wednesday — indicating that bone-dry conditions paired with strong winds created large areas at high risk for dangerous wildfires. The Storm Prediction Center warned again of “extremely critical fire weather” throughout Southern California. Parts of Northern California, including the North Bay mountains, were expected to see “widespread critical fire weather.”
The Kincade Fire in the Bay Area has been 30 percent contained, while the Getty Fire burning in Los Angeles was 27 percent contained as of Wednesday morning.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/30/california-fires-map-getty-fire-kincade-fire/?wpisrc=al_news__alert-national&wpmk=1
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