Santa Anas Howl Across Southland at Up to 100 MPH

Santa Ana winds gusting at up to 100 mph hammered Southern California on Wednesday, forcing the closure of Ontario International Airport and parts of Interstate 15, turning big rigs on their sides, downing power lines, fanning small brush fires and littering the landscape with toppled trees.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported.

Ontario’s incoming flights were diverted to Los Angeles, and all airlines at the airfield in San Bernardino County except American canceled their flights by midafternoon, airport spokeswoman Maria Tesoro said.

The airport, which serves an average of 34,000 people a day, was hit by 83-mph winds pushing huge clouds of dust, Tesoro said.

“We had one single-engine aircraft turned over,” she said.

Ontario Police Det. Al Parra said the winds were so powerful Wednesday morning that some traffic signals were knocked out and six major power lines “were snapped like toothpicks.”

On highways near the airport, the fierce winds toppled several semis as though they were children’s toys.

“They are everywhere,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Oscar Medellin. The biggest problem was at the foot of Cajon Pass, where Interstate 15 links San Bernardino and the High Desert.

“We are taking all high-profile vehicles off at Devore. We won’t let them over,” Medellin said. “They are just going to have to wait it out or go around another way.”

Blown-over big rigs snarled traffic on Interstates 10, 15 and 60.

“This is an absolute nightmare,” said CHP Officer Randy Young.

The San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, normally hit hard by Santa Anas, mostly escaped damage this time. Although winds gusted as high as 63 mph in Newhall and 56 mph in Chatsworth, according to the National Weather Service, no major structural damage was reported in the valleys as of Wednesday afternoon.

A wind-driven fire had blackened 30 acres of undeveloped land north of Brand Park in Glendale by 10 p.m. Glendale Fire Department officials said the fire was not under control, but they did not believe any homes were in danger.

Earlier in the day, downed power lines on the border of Glendale and La Crescenta caused a brush fire that swept over about an acre before it was put out, according to Glendale Fire Department officials. Electricity was interrupted in the area only briefly.

Other power outages, including one caused by a damaged power pole that affected 20 homes in Canyon Country, were also relatively minor.

“We estimate that in the Los Angeles area, we have had 107,000 customers affected by power outages during the last 24 hours,” Gil Alexander, spokesman for Southern California Edison said Wednesday afternoon. “The problems we have had in the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita areas represent only a small fraction of that.”

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reported outages affecting about 1,600 homes in Tujunga and Woodland Hills.

“It was the usual--trees hitting power lines,” said DWP spokeswoman Darlene Battle. “Nothing too bad, compared to past wind storms.”

The biggest wind problem faced by Burbank police and fire officials was right above their heads. Metal flashing on the roof of their headquarters, dedicated last year, was blown loose.

In Orange County, winds up to 100 mph whistled through the Cleveland National Forest’s remote passes and canyons at Orange County’s eastern edge Wednesday morning, then sped on down to the coastal plains.

“This thing would blow the feathers off a duck,” said Orange County historian and weather watcher Jim Sleeper. “I’ve got quite a harvest of downed palm fronds in my frontyard. But I suspect some of our hot Santa Ana winds from years past were higher velocity.”

A brush fire charred 10 acres near Black Star and Silverado Canyon roads after winds pushed two transmission lines together, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Scott Brown.

The winds were too much for water-dropping helicopters, Brown said. About 80 firefighters from 17 agencies, including the U.S. Forestry Service and the California Department of Forestry, helped battle the blaze on the ground. Crews doused embers through the afternoon and into the night Wednesday. There were no injuries.

In fountain Valley, a wind-whipped blaze gutted the home of a family of four Wednesday evening.

No one was injured, and firefighters were able to keep the flames from spreading to nearby houses, officials said.

In Newport Beach, a late afternoon fire in the marshes of the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Preserve climbed a cliff and briefly threatened about 40 homes. That blaze prompted a voluntary evacuation of residents as more than 100 firefighters from three other cities joined a Newport Beach crew to fight the blaze.

“It was scary as hell,” said Chris Welsh, who was at his home on Santiago Drive when the blaze broke out. “I thought my house was going to go.”

Firefighters extinguished the flames by 7:20 p.m.

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Times staff writer Colker reported from the San Fernando Valley; correspondent Trevino from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Edward J. Boyer in Los Angeles, Janet Wilson and correspondent Jason Kandel in Orange County, and correspondent Richard Winton in the San Gabriel Valley contributed to this story.