Southern California residents are dealing with increased wildfire danger this week because of the Santa Ana winds.
Red flag warnings went into effect Sunday night and will extend until 7 p.m. Monday in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. A fire weather watch will go into effect from 4 a.m. Wednesday until 6 p.m. in those counties as well.
Strong and locally damaging Santa Ana winds are expected this week, through Monday, and again Wednesday and Thursday,” according to the National Weather Service. “The strongest winds will affect portions of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.”
Andrew Rourke of the National Weather Service told KNX News’ Jon Baird that the weather forecast does not mean that fires will start.
“It just means that if one does start, they will get out of control very quickly,” he said. “So it allows firemen to establish our resources to make sure that they can put them out quickly and nobody likes to see the power shut off. “
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Meanwhile, SoCal Edison has warned 170,000 customers that their power could be shut off for safety reasons if the winds get strong enough.
“Public safety power shutoffs are a tool of last resort that we look into when there is an increased risk of wildfire,” Gabriela Ornelas with SoCal Edison told Baird. “And what we're seeing right now is there are high winds expected in many parts of Southern California and we're going to have even stronger winds on Wednesday.”
She added that if shutoffs happen, SoCal Edison will try to get power turned on as soon as possible.
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