Winds to blow in with less gusto
How bad are the winds going to be this weekend?
Fire-weary Southern California received some good news Friday when the National Weather Service predicted that the winds forecast for this weekend will be weaker than originally feared.
Forecasters still issued red flag warnings through Sunday night because of dry conditions, but officials said winds will be nowhere as strong as they were two weekends ago when devastating fires broke out across the region. Humidity levels will drop from the teens to single digits Saturday and Sunday, and temperatures will range from the upper 70s in the mountain areas to the mid-90s in the valleys, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist for the National Weather Service.
How will this weekend’s winds compare to those that sparked the fires two weeks ago?
Seto said sustained winds won’t get much beyond 25 mph through today. Mountain passes are expected to see gusts as high as 55 mph and valleys gusts as high as 45 mph before tailing off. By contrast, two weeks ago, sustained winds topped 80 mph in some areas with gusts exceeding 100 mph.
How long will the red flag warnings be in effect?
The red flag warnings were scheduled to end at 8 p.m. Sunday. To find out about red flag hillside parking restrictions in Los Angeles, go to www.lafd.org/redflag.
What are fire officials doing?
Despite the modest wind forecast, fire officials on Friday continued to prepare.
In Orange County, officials were fighting the Santiago Fire, which was 90% contained, hoping to have it fully contained before the winds had a chance to cause it to spread.
Firefighters were paying particular attention to populated canyon and hillside areas that have not burned in recent years, such as Topanga Canyon, Simi Valley, parts of Santa Clarita, the Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear areas, and portions of northern San Diego.
In vulnerable areas, fire departments were placing more strike teams that would be able to immediately jump on any fires that might start. The U.S. Forest Service was keeping more than 1,000 firefighters stationed from Lake Arrowhead to just west of Big Bear Lake, where they have been stamping out the remaining hot spots from the Slide and Grass Valley fires and watching for new blazes.
Have the fires resulted in any scams?
Yes. People should be on the lookout for a new e-mail scam soliciting donations to California wildfire victims in the name of the IRS and the U.S. government, the IRS said Friday. The tax agency said the bogus e-mails appear to be a “phishing” scheme that tries to trick recipients into revealing personal and financial information that can be used to steal their assets. The agency said the scam e-mail urges recipients to click on a link that opens up a fake IRS website. That site includes a link to a donation form that requests the personal information.
What can I do to avoid being ripped off?
People “should avoid opening any attachments or clicking on any links until they can verify the e-mail’s legitimacy,” said Richard Spires, IRS deputy commissioner for operations support, in a statement. The IRS said it does not send e-mails soliciting charitable donations and never asks people for PINs, passwords or other secret information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts. For more information, visit www.irs.gov.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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