A “significant flare-up” in the largest of the six wildfires scorching Southern California prompted new evacuation orders, but the fierce winds that have spread the flames calmed Friday night, giving weary firefighters a short respite.
The Palisades Fire, the largest inferno that has burned 21,317 acres and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses, has shifted direction and new evacuation orders were issued for the Brentwood neighborhood and the foothills of the San Fernando Valley, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“The Palisades fire has got a new significant flare-up on the eastern portion and continues to move northeast,” L.A. Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott told KTLA.
“It feels like Los Angeles is a punching bag,” Scott added.
The fires that erupted last Tuesday have killed at least 11 people, devastated whole communities and reduced thousands of homes and businesses to ash.
Josh Sautter, president of the Encino Neighborhood Council, said the new evacuation orders sent a shiver through the community.
“I don’t think that people here really saw that it was coming,” he said, the Los Angeles Times reported. “We didn’t think that it was something that would really affect us—until it did.”
The Palisades Fire is currently only 8% contained.
But wind conditions are expected to improve in the region throughout the weekend, with winds subsiding to around 20 mph with gusts of up to 50 mph, Reuters reported, citing the National Weather Service.
The winds had been blowing as strong as 80 mph, helping spread the fires’ embers miles away from where they began.
“It’s not as gusty, so that should help firefighters,” NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli said, noting that the dry conditions and low humidity will continue.
Red flag warnings are also still in effect.
But the respite is only temporary.
Forecasts call for the wind to return to the area around Los Angeles on Monday and Tuesday, which could create more fires and make fighting the blazes more difficult for firefighters, Fox 11 reported.
“We know that we’re going to have a possible increase in the force of the winds at the beginning of next week and we’re getting Los Angeles prepared, doing everything we can to save lives, that is our number one job to protect people’s homes, to protect people’s businesses and to prepare to rebuild Los Angeles in a much better way,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at a press conference on Friday.
Originally published on Latin Times
