Wildfires over Malibu

Fierce winds that have fueled a series of wildfires ravaging Southern California finally eased last night, giving firefighters a chance to control and contain all but one of the 23 fires reported in the seven-county area. These winds are shown in the satellite image at left, blowing smoke from wildfires over the ocean.

The largest of this week’s blazes, San Diego County’s Witch Fire, is now 20 percent contained. Firefighters also fully contained several smaller fires north of San Diego, as well as the Buckweed and Magic Fires in northern Los Angeles County. In the wealthy coastal community of Malibu, the Canyon Fire is now 85 percent contained.

Only the Slide Fire in the San Bernardino Mountains still burns out of control. It has consumed 5,000 additional acres of land and nearly 200 homes since yesterday.

This week’s fires, which started October 21, have consumed some 470,000 acres and 1,400 homes overall. More than 1 million people evacuated from their residences throughout the course of the week. This is the largest evacuation since Hurricane Katrina, and the largest natural disaster.

Overnight on Wednesday, however, the city of San Diego announced that evacuation orders were lifted. Residents of 13 communities were allowed to return to check on their homes as winds died down.

The Santa Ana winds, which had gusted to between 70 and 80 mph earlier in the week, subsided to single-digits Wednesday night as the high pressure system that brought them moved eastward, away from California. The high pressure system is currently located over central Colorado. It has weakened to 1029 mb, down from 1040 mb earlier in the week.

In Laguna Peak, the site of the week’s highest recorded Santa Ana gust (101 mph), wind speeds have been less than 10 mph throughout most of the morning. Meteorologists predict only light winds for the next seven days. Despite this progress, however, the fire situation remains perilous. Officials face a massive task in controlling the remaining blazes, especially as no rain is forecast for the next several days.

In San Diego County, where damage from fires was worst, the Rice and Harris Fires continue to threaten nearly 2,000 additional homes. Outside of Los Angeles, in the Lake Arrowhead area, 10,000 homes are threatened by the Slide Fire. The nearby Grass Valley Fire, which is 40 percent contained, continues to threaten 6,000 homes.

The causes of many of this week’s fires remain under investigation. Fallen power lines are believed to be the source of some blazes. The FBI is investigating whether the Santiago Fire in Orange County, which has devastated more than 20,000 acres and is now 30 percent contained, was started by arson.

.MGW.

~ by meagangwhite on October 26, 2007.