Southland May Get a Break on Santa Anas

Fire-skittish Southern Californians may get a weather break today: Forecasters say the dreaded Santa Ana winds probably will not arrive until at least Sunday night, and then prove gentler than feared.

Some mountain regions might even get a dusting of snow first.

“Things look a little bit better than we were expecting,” meteorologist Vladimir Ryshko at the National Weather Service office in Oxnard said Friday. “It certainly looks better for fire containment.”

Nevertheless, strong winds--up to 28 mph at Point Mugu, 40 mph in Lancaster and 78-mph gusts in the Mojave Desert--caused scattered blackouts throughout the region Friday. Those breezes, which painted sparklingly clear vistas, were the friendlier sort, relatively cool and moist from the north and northwest.

While the hotter and drier Santa Anas from the easterly deserts seemed delayed a day or so, firefighters remained edgy even as they progressed in taming the Calabasas-Malibu wildfire. About 85% of the fire was contained Friday within a 55-mile corridor cleared of brush by bulldozers and crews, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Steve Valenzuela.

Crews trudged up and down steep slopes and canyons looking for telltale smoke or stumps and branches where embers might remain. No flames were reported, but infrared cameras on helicopters detected embers in the Corral Canyon area and Tapia Park.

Officials warned that gusts could blow embers a mile away and spark new flare-ups in brush that is the driest in about 15 fire seasons. Fires have burned 41,000 acres across Southern California this week, damaging or destroying 110 homes.

“These offshore winds can be just as dangerous as the hot, dry Santa Ana winds. These winds will still drive a fire really quickly across dry brush,” Valenzuela said. Reinforcing his message, stiff breezes rattled canopies and blew papers from tables as he spoke at a command center outside Malibu’s Civic Center.

Because of those winds, 2,069 firefighters--about half of the peak force earlier this week--are being kept on duty through the weekend in the Calabasas-Malibu area. They come from 45 agencies throughout the West, officials said. This week, the Calabasas-Malibu fires burned 13,010 acres, destroyed six houses and two mobile homes, and caused an estimated $1,047,230 in damage, officials reported.

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Special patrols of Los Angeles city firefighters have been assigned to survey high-risk areas and act as lookouts for any suspicious activity.

Skin graft surgery was performed Friday on Glendale Firefighter William Jensen, the most severely injured firefighter in the Calabasas-Malibu blaze. Jensen remained in critical condition after the surgery.

Temperatures in the 60s and low 70s are expected today and Sunday in Southern California. The National Weather Service predicted some nighttime rain or snow in mountains above 6,000 feet Friday or today, mostly near Big Bear, but said any precipitation in the Calabasas-Malibu area will evaporate before it hits the ground.

The Santa Anas could push thermometers up 10 degrees or mores. In addition to delaying the winds’ possible arrival by a day or so until Sunday night or Monday, forecasters are lowering estimates on their top speed to 40 mph.

“They don’t look nearly as strong as we originally thought,” said National Weather Service expert Tim McClung.

Friday’s winds caused scattered power outages for about 55,000 customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison, spokesmen said. Those were mainly around downtown Los Angeles, Eagle Rock and Highland Park, Whittier and north Orange County. More trouble was expected today. “We are mobilizing repair crews like crazy,” said Steve Hansen of Edison.

In San Bernardino County, Interstate 40 was closed for about 8 hours Friday because of high winds and blowing sand between Newberry Springs and Ludlow. The California Highway Patrol reported that one big-rig blew over, and another ran into the center divider. The road was reopened about 12:30 p.m.

Late Friday, 35-knot winds battered Santa Catalina Island and officials said they would discourage travelers from visiting on small boats this weekend.

“I haven’t seen it blow like this in eight years,” said Brian Dawes, a patrolman for the city of Avalon Harbor Patrol.

Meanwhile, the thoughts of many firefighters and citizens were focused on the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, where doctors operated on firefighter Jensen.

Jensen, 52, was burned over 70% of his body, and is suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome and the early signs of a blood condition that can lead to internal hemorrhaging. He is expected to return to surgery Tuesday, burn center spokesman Larry Weinberg said.

“Doctors are moderately encouraged by the finding that there was less smoke inhalation damage to his lungs than previously thought,” Weinberg said. “We are watching him hour by hour, day by day.”

Surgeons cut away the dead, burned and otherwise damaged tissue from the surface of Jensen’s body and replaced those areas with more than 15,000 square centimeters of cadaver skin, officials said.

Friday was a day to show thanks to firefighters. Just after 1 p.m., a caravan of eight cars arrived at the command center in Malibu. The cars were stuffed with cookies, cakes and other sweets sent by students in the Calabasas area.

Agoura businessman Scott Harris and his wife, Randi, had organized the baked goods drive.

“These guys did an unbelievable job in saving our homes, our businesses and, frankly, our lives. The least they deserve is a treat,” said Harris, whose employees picked up and delivered the treats from 12 schools. Most came with handwritten notes from elementary school children.

The spirit of volunteerism was evident also in the inspections by the 150-members of the Lost Hills sheriff’s station arson watch.

“We’re out today, We’re on full alert,” said Allen Emerson, the 71-year-old coordinator. “Everybody has been alerted and assigned routes.”

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The members patrol Calabasas, Malibu, Agoura and Chatsworth, armed with cameras, binoculars and cellular phones to detect fires and suspicious activities. They have have been credited with helping firefighters get an early jump on previous spot fires.

Also Friday, the county Board of Supervisors took tentative steps to extend the use of Super Scooper planes that fight brush fires with water drawn from the ocean. The planes, which were to cost $1.2 million for two months of service this year, were brought in earlier than expected. And under a new proposal, $500,000 in county Fire Department reserves would be spent to keep the planes through December.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, whose district has suffered the worst of the Los Angeles-area damage, said he will support the additional funds when it comes up for a vote Tuesday.

Despite some concerns that the two planes leased from the government of the Canadian province of Quebec had been hampered by strong winds and steep canyons, Yaroslavsky said they performed admirably all week.

In San Diego County on Friday, firefighters continued to mop up the fire that began in the Harmony Grove-Elfin Forest area Monday before sweeping west toward the Carlsbad neighborhood of La Costa. It destroyed 98 homes.

Meanwhile, the fire on Otay Mountain has burned 14,720 acres, with containment not expected until 6 p.m. today. Fog and low clouds hampered firefighting by grounding helicopters needed to ferry crews to hot spots on the rugged mountain 40 miles east of San Diego.

Times staff writers Efrain Hernandez, Tom Gorman and Bob Pool and correspondent Janet Wiscombe contributed to this story.