This week's focus is on how extreme winds caused the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history. But that's not the only concern.
Dry vegetation and steep terrain pushed the largest Palisades fire eastward, spreading into new areas of Los Angeles on Friday, even as wind speeds dropped and hopes that firefighters would bring the blaze under control increased. A mandatory evacuation order was issued.
The fire was burning along the crest of a ridge in Mandeville Canyon Friday night, Los Angeles County Fire Department Squad Chief Kenichi Haskett said. The fire tore through steep, dry vegetation and threatened the northern Encino neighborhood.
Haskett said the spread was caused by the terrain, not the wind. “We don't have the strong winds that we had on Tuesday and Wednesday.” The Palisades Fire has burned more than 21,000 acres in five days.
The absence of the usual fall and early winter rains left much of Southern California completely dry, leaving plants on fire. Most areas south of Ventura County have seen less than about a quarter of an inch of rain over the past eight months, but the Los Angeles area has only seen light rain since April.
That means the Santa Ana winds, the strong, dry, gusty winds that fuel the wildfires, had a particularly dramatic effect. Although the fires have been contained, experts say dry vegetation continues to fuel the Palisades blaze. Strong winds are expected to return to Los Angeles and Ventura counties Saturday afternoon, reaching peak speeds overnight into Sunday morning, increasing the risk of rapidly spreading wildfires.
Wind speeds above the fire Friday night were light, less than 15 mph, said National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Gomberg. By comparison, wind gusts exceeded 90 mph on Wednesday. “I think a big factor is that the fuel is unusually dry,” Gomberg said of Friday's expansion.
Craig Clements, director of San Jose State University's Interdisciplinary Center for Wildfire Research, said the Palisades fire “followed terrain and fuel.” He said fires start in hilly areas and move faster uphill than downhill, adding: “The steeper the terrain, the faster the fire will travel.”
The fire ravaging Mandeville Canyon is a “plume-driven fire” fueled by its own wind, said Redondo Beach Fire Chief Patrick Butler, a former deputy chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department who led the response to the blaze. said. Many Southern California fires. Such flames often burn upward and then collapse, scattering embers in concentric circles for miles.
Ash fell in the Brentwood area south of the canyon Friday evening.
Wildfires are notoriously difficult to fight in Mandeville Canyon, with poor radio communications and very narrow roads, Butler said, “There's basically one way in and one way out.” .
