SoCal braces for powerful Santa Ana winds Friday amid increased wildfire risk
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Another round of Santa Ana winds will descend on the Southland this weekend, combining with reduced humidity levels to create conditions susceptible to wildfires.
A fire weather watch will be in effect from Saturday morning through Sunday morning in the Santa Clarita Valley, Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area, San Gabriel Mountains and the 5 Freeway corridor, according to the National Weather Service.
A fire weather watch will also be in effect from Saturday through Sunday morning in Calabasas and the San Fernando Valley.
Forecasters said some areas could see northeast winds of 25 to 40 mph, gusting as high as 65 mph in the most wind-prone areas.
"People just need to be prepared in case there is a wind event, because whenever there is a wind event, that always puts more risk for wildfires, and so we want people to be prepared for that," said LAFD Fire Captain Adam VanGerpen.
Humidity levels, meanwhile, could drop as low as 8 to 15%, with little recovery during overnight hours.
Windy weather could develop across some areas as early as Friday, but the gustiest conditions are expected late Friday night through Saturday night. Forecasters said red flag warnings of critical fire danger could be issued Saturday in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
"Another concern of ours during high winds is to make sure that you're not using anything with sparks - nothing," said VanGerpen. "No equipment that can start a fire. Also, you want to make sure that you secure all of your belongings around your home and make sure that stuff is not going to blow away in the wind."
Amid the holiday season, make sure any outdoor decorations are secured. Also, watch out for heaters.
"People try and heat their home so we want to make sure that people use caution when they're heating their homes, electrical heaters, gas heaters," said VanGerpen. "Want to make sure that we don't use anything inside the homes that's not supposed to be there, generators, heaters that have exhaust. We want to make sure that we don't have those inside the home."
City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.
