Scorching Winds Should Ease as Cool Air Arrives

The desert-like winds that created a severe fire hazard in the county’s bone-dry hills should ease today with arrival of cooler temperatures, forecasters said.

Temperatures should dip at least 15 degrees below Tuesday’s highs, which reached up to 95 in parts of the county, they said.

But the second day of scorching heat and blustery Santa Ana winds Tuesday prompted Orange County fire officials to place firefighters on alert and to urge residents to take precautions.

In the wake of the two brush fires in Yorba Linda that burned seven acres Monday, county fire officials put two strike teams on active duty--one in the Santiago Canyon area near Villa Park and one in Rancho Santa Margarita, in South County.

The firefighters “are loaded up, suited and ready to go,” said Capt. Dan Young of the Orange County Fire Department. “They will be on the road within seconds.”

Winds blowing through the Santiago Canyon were clocked at 20 m.p.h., fire spokeswoman Maria Sabol said Tuesday. With humidity readings at 15% in that area, the Fire Department was poised to put its stations on red-flag alert, the highest priority status, had the winds increased by 5 m.p.h., she said. Winds of 50 m.p.h. were recorded Monday.

Sabol said residents should take extra precautions now, especially because four years of scant rainfall have left the vegetation in the county’s rural hillsides in a tinder-like condition.

Young said firetrucks are on patrol, not only looking for signs of smoke but acting as deterrents.

“Our engines are out there in high profile. They’re monitoring and looking for problems. Just looking at a fire engine makes people think about fire prevention.”

Marty McKewon, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said that the Santa Ana condition was expected to subside by today.

It was created when a high-pressure trough centered in Utah collided with a low-pressure system over the Gulf of Mexico.

McKewon said that the weather condition is typical for mid-October. “This is not that unusual,” he said. “This always starts happening this time of year.”

The winds heat up rapidly as they dive from the mountains into the Los Angeles Basin, he said. As a result, even the beaches lose the cooling benefit of ocean breezes, reaching temperatures in the 90s.

The hot spots in Orange County on Tuesday, McKewon said, were El Toro, where the temperature reached 94, the Santa Ana Civic Center, which recorded 95.

“It’s warmer in Santa Ana today than in Palm Springs,” where the high was 94.

Ventura FIRES: Three wind-fanned blazes raged near Santa Paula. A3