Three wildfires are still raging across portions of Southern California. The biggest fire is still the Palisades fire covering 23,713 acres. The Eaton Fire is the second largest covering 14,117 acres. The smallest of the three main fires is the Hurst fire, and firefighters have that fire at 97% containment.
The current weather pattern, terrain, and dry grasses are all to blame for the rapid spread of these fires. Mountains surround the city, and that's where these fires are located. Fires can move quickly uphill due to the shorter distance that needs to be crossed. Winds can push the fire into unburned areas and will continue to move.
The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings with a tag mentioning that this is a Potentially Dangerous Situation. These are set to expire through the afternoon on Wednesday. Winds were expected to be much stronger for today (January 14th) , but luckily they stayed on the weaker side. As for what Southern California can expect, the wind gusts are expected to pick up overnight and into Wednesday. This is another reason for the Red Flag Warnings and Wind Advisories that have been issued.
Meteorologists in Los Angeles are urging residents to stay on guard and be ready to evacuate. Conditions are expected to worsen going into Wednesday and could possibly be the worst conditions for this event.
Wind gusts aren't as strong as they were when the fires started, which is good news for firefighters. Along with these Red Flag warnings, Air Quality Alerts have been issued due to the particulates in the air from the smoke. Luckily, these levels are only in the moderate levels versus the more unhealthy levels that we can see with wildfires.
News 5 will be monitoring conditions and keeping you up to date with the latest from these fires.
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