The Tide Could Finally Be Turning Against the LA Fires

“With these winds being very calm this morning, I believe we can actually make some progress, turn a corner and start to build some control over this fire,” Brent Pascua, a Cal Fire battalion chief, said. to say Today’s show is Thursday.

So far the response to the disaster has been marred by misinformation and controversy. After some fire hydrants ran dry, President-elect Donald Trump baselessly accused California Governor Gavin Newsom of mismanaging the state’s water supply to save an endangered fish.

City crews are now able to reach three water tanks in the mountains near the Palisades Fire to increase pressure. That allows the tanks to refill more quickly so they can supply hydrants, Stewart said. Each tank can hold 1 million gallons. “We have full-flowing hydrants,” she says.

More firefighters began arriving from Utah, Oregon, Arizona, Washington and New Mexico. According to Stewart, several dozen task forces are on their way, each with five fire engines and a command vehicle.

The plane started flying again on Wednesday. Twelve helicopters are filling giant water buckets hanging from cables and sucking seawater through snorkels. Six planes are also working to fight the fire, including a pair of “super scoop” planes skimming across the surface of the Pacific Ocean to scoop up water. Helicopters and scoop planes drop water on the scene, allowing firefighters to approach and extinguish them.

Meanwhile, other aircraft are dropping fire retardant in front of the fire, coating the potential fuel with a layer of non-combustible chemicals and slowing its progress. A C-130 cargo plane that Cal Fire acquired from the Coast Guard and retrofitted this summer can dump 4,000 gallons of retardant. It took firefighters time to dig and bulldoze bare earth firebreaks.

With the Sea Palisades Fire contained to the south, responders will try to prevent it from breaking east or west. “The real expansion is going to be up front,” says Pimlott.

A red flag warning for increased fire risk will remain in place until Friday, with humidity only 8-12% percent. California suffered an unusually dry winter, with 40 percent of the state in drought conditions.

“Fuels remain critically dry,” Cal Fire’s James Magana said At a briefing Thursday morning. “You can expect to see critical rates of spread, especially on those ridgetops or those drainages that are aligned with the wind.”

On Saturday, the wind direction is expected to reverse. If firefighters are not prepared, the heel of the fire could turn in front and move north.

Even once they are able to contain the burning within a circle of fires and natural obstacles, it will not be the end of the job. Firefighters must put out small fires within that footprint.

“This is an important stage, to wipe out these hotspots or rekindle if the winds pick up again,” Upton said.

To move forward, the city must clear debris, restore utilities and analyze environmental damage before letting people back in. As the canyons are depleted of trees and vegetation that hold the soil, mudslides can become a threat once the rains return.

Los Angeles will face the prospect of rebuilding a devastated community. It’s an opportunity to make them less vulnerable to the next fire, says Max Moritz, a wildfire expert at the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Although in many cases houses are required to be constructed of fire-resistant materials, California law says nothing about how they should be laid out. Techniques such as clustering trees instead of spreading them can make them easier to protect and move from fire, he says.

“That’s part of the hope here, is that we can do something better, smarter and safer,” says Moritz.