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California Fires Live Updates: New Blaze Threatens Reagan Library
Dangerous Santa Ana winds were predicted to whip Southern California as a new wildfire broke out near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
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Right Now
A new fire that broke out in Ventura County prompts evacuation orders for an area that includes the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
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Strong winds could drive ‘extreme fire behavior’ in Southern California.
California was facing the worst kind of weather for wildfires on Wednesday — strong, gusty winds and very low humidity.
Tuesday night was not as bad as predicted in Northern California, where firefighters have been battling the Kincade fire, the biggest active wildfire in the state. That blaze, which has so far burned more than 76,000 acres and destroyed 189 structures, is now 30 percent contained, up from 15 percent on Tuesday.
But farther south, in the Los Angeles area, where a blaze known as the Getty fire has prompted the evacuation of more than 7,000 homes, the Santa Ana winds were expected to strengthen on Wednesday. “We’re calling this an extreme red flag warning event,” said Curt Kaplan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, Calif.
Forecasters have predicted winds between 50 m.p.h. and 70 m.p.h. in Los Angeles County and Ventura County on Wednesday, with some gusts up to 80 m.p.h. in the mountains. That would come close to matching a Category 1 hurricane, which has sustained winds of at least 74 m.p.h.
In those conditions, Mr. Kaplan said, “if a fire does ignite, we are expecting some pretty extreme fire behavior.”
The Getty fire was 15 percent contained on Wednesday morning, and firefighters in the Los Angeles area were bracing for the Santa Ana winds to arrive from the San Fernando Valley.
“We do have high winds, but it’s just north of where the fire area is,” Margaret Stewart, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles Fire Department, said on Wednesday morning. “So over the next few hours, the winds will start to move south, and then we’ll see if we’re able to make it through this without any embers picking up and starting a new brush fire.”
On Tuesday, the National Weather Service had posted “red flag” warnings for most of Northern California and much of Southern California.
Some of those warnings remain in effect, but “winds have eased” in the San Francisco Bay Area, the National Weather Service said on Twitter on Wednesday morning, adding that those winds are still strong and could contribute to critical fire conditions. A wind advisory in the North Bay Mountains was canceled.
“Containment continues to increase” across the state, Scott McLean, a spokesman for Cal Fire, said on Wednesday morning.
The threat posed by the winds has led the utility Pacific Gas and Electric to cut off power to about 1.5 million people in some 30 counties in Northern California in recent days, with about 1 million still without electricity since the weekend.
A new state web portal includes links to updates on fire status, evacuation zones, power outages, shelters and housing, road conditions and other information related to the fires, compiled by state agencies like Cal Fire and Caltrans and by utility companies.
Mandatory evacuations are ordered for a new fire in Ventura County.
A new blaze known as the Easy fire has led to a mandatory evacuation that includes the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Ventura County.
The evacuation, ordered at 6:30 a.m., includes parts of Simi Valley and Moorpark, cities in the southeastern part of the county. Eric Tennessen, chief of the Ventura County Sheriff’s office, said deputies were knocking on doors and escorting people to safety. The evacuation area consists of ranches, farms and a golf course and is not densely populated, Chief Tennessen said.
Video from local news outlets showed smoke billowing from several distinct parts of the fire along hilltops as the sun rose, with the flames fanned by the wind.
As fires rage, schools cancel classes and events.
With many school districts closed in Sonoma County and surrounding counties, parents have been left trying to entertain their children amid power outages and evacuations.
Parker Palizi, 9, did not mind getting a few days off from school, but the thought of staying home in Novato without working electronics was less than appealing. “There’s no fun stuff we can do,” he said. Still, Parker was more concerned about his pet bearded dragon, Spike, whom he was bringing in a glass tank to a hotel room in Carmel-by-the-Sea, where electricity beckoned.
“He needs the heat lamp to stay alive,” Parker said.
The Palizis, who live in Marin County, were supposed to be on a 7 a.m. flight from Los Angeles on Monday so Delilah could perform as an elephant in her second-grade play. “She was so excited,” said her mother, Brooke Palizi, who works for a nonprofit organization.
But Delilah’s star turn will have to wait. The Novato Unified School District canceled school on Monday, and then on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Palizis learned late Monday afternoon. By then they were driving a rental car the seven and a half hours home.
The Windsor High School girls volleyball team had been slated to play in the playoffs on Wednesday, until a mandatory evacuation order came for the entire town of 28,000 on Saturday morning, giving residents six hours to flee. With all the district’s schools closed this week, the town on lockdown and the team scattered, Coach Rich Schwarz said he and the athletic director made the difficult decision to forfeit the game.
The players responded to his group text announcing the decision with sad-face emojis and messages of support, said Mr. Schwarz, who is in his final year coaching the team.
“How do we play when we don’t have practice and don’t know where the girls are? said Mr. Schwarz, who is staying with his sister in the town of Rohnert Park. “We can’t tell parents to break into the town to get their uniforms. At what point does an extracurricular activity become way too much? We need to let families worry about whether their house is still standing.”
[The New York Times has photographers on the ground, documenting the California wildfires and the battle to contain them. Follow their work here.]
Maps show where the fires are burning now.
We’re continuing to update our page of maps showing the extent of the fires, power outages and evacuation zones.
The Getty fire was caused by an ‘act of God.’
The Getty fire started when a branch broke off a tree and hit nearby power lines — an accident that Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles called an “act of God.”
The power lines began to spark and ignited nearby brush, Mr. Garcetti said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon. He said investigators have not found any evidence that faulty equipment started the fire.
The fire, which has burned at least 650 acres and was 15 percent contained as of Tuesday night, broke out shortly after 1:30 a.m. Monday along the major freeway known as the 405, near the Getty Center. It quickly spread through neighborhoods north of Brentwood, destroying 12 homes and damaging five more.
The authorities determined the cause in part after seeing dash cam footage that showed an explosion on the side of the road early Monday morning, Mr. Garcetti said.
Reporting was contributed by Dan Levin, Thomas Fuller, Julie Turkewitz, Jose A. Del Real and Jacey Fortin.
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