Gusts Wind Up a New Year

The new year whooshed into Orange County on Santa Ana winds that knocked down trees and utility poles early Monday, leaving thousands of homes without power and stoking concerns of wildfires in paper-dry canyon country.

The warm winds gusted to 75 mph in canyons near the Cleveland National Forest and caused havoc in more populated areas by setting off scores of alarms and toppling power poles.

About 40,000 electricity customers lost power at least temporarily, said Criss Brown, spokesman for Southern California Edison. County officials opened the emergency storm center to steer efforts to clean debris, and extra firefighters were posted near brushy hillsides.

“It’s a bad combination. You have a lot of wires down from the wind. The vegetation’s dead and [has] very little moisture. The rains we got two weeks ago didn’t really do anything,” said Capt. Dan Young, spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority. “It’s all dry again and ready to burn.”

Young said officials were answering even routine calls with beefed-up crews to reduce the risk of a minor fire blowing out of control. Young said fire dangers were more acute because many residents are building blazes in their fireplaces.

“You could have a roof fire that could consume a dozen homes,” he said.

But no wind-related injuries were reported, and authorities said damage was limited mainly to fallen trees and branches.

Fire officials said the strongest winds topped 50 mph around Yorba Linda and Placentia and averaged 60 mph in the rural canyons.

About a dozen utility poles were felled next to the Mall of Orange. Although the mall had electricity, business was down because the tangle of fallen wires outside closed Tustin Street and kept many stores closed. Post-holiday bargain hunters had to find another way in.

“They’re coming, and they’re doing some scouting,” mall operations manager Debbie Vargas said. “They’re sort of assessing the situation themselves.”

Police reported fallen or uprooted trees throughout Orange County, and officers spent much of the night checking buildings where alarms were set off by the rattling winds.

La Habra police checking one of the many alarm calls surprised a man prying his way into a bicycle shop. Police said the would-be intruder continued his efforts despite the blaring alarm.

“The suspect was deaf, and he didn’t hear it,” Sgt. Jeffrey Love said.

Elsewhere, Caltrans officials called in extra work crews to repair wind-toppled traffic signs and clean up fallen debris. A motorist drove into a construction zone after the wind blew down barriers near Irvine Center Drive.

“He thought he was getting on the [San Diego Freeway] and ended up in the dirt,” a Caltrans dispatcher said.

Weather forecasters said the high winds were fed by high pressure over the Rocky Mountains and low pressure over Baja California. Gentler winds were expected for today, with continued warm temperatures in the low 70s, said Rob Kaczmarek, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

The return of calmer air was too late for several residents at the Woodside Village condominium complex in Santa Ana, where a fallen pine tree buried two vehicles and a snapped branch shattered the rear window of a third.

Linda Glassburner watched nervously as workers struggled to saw away a 40-foot tree that enveloped her car. In the past year, the vehicle was stolen once and its engine blew up, Glassburner said. The tree incident was the last straw.

“It’s time to buy a moped,” she said. “Or roller skates.”