San Diego County will be hit by a second wave of Santa Ana winds Thursday night and early Friday that will pose a greater wildfire threat than the gusts that whipped parts of the region early Wednesday, the National Weather Service says.
In preparation, power was preemptively shut off to thousands of residents in the county’s mountainous backcountry, and schools in several such districts were closed Thursday for the second day in a row.
The Santa Anas will also continue to slam Los Angeles County, where they had already sparked huge wildfires that burned more than 1,000 homes and businesses and killed at least five people by Wednesday evening.
In greater San Diego starting Thursday, “the relative humidity will be lower, the winds will be really strong, and the land is critically dry,” said Casey Oswant, a weather service forecaster.
“The Santa Anas also will be out of the east, which means there could be stronger crosswinds on Interstate 8. The area east of Alpine could get 75 mph gusts, and there could be 50 mph to 60 mph winds in the inland foothills.”
ICYMI:— If a wildfire breaks out, are you ready? You can be. Here’s how.— These apps and alerts can help you prepare and stay informed in a wildfire— What exactly is a red flag warning? What are mountain waves? Wind terms you need to know
The relative humidity will drop to the 15-to-20% level, which is more conducive to the start and growth of wildfires — especially east of Interstate 15, where there is a lot of chaparral, the most flammable kind of vegetation in the U.S.
A third, weaker round of Santa Anas could come on Sunday, and there’s the possibility of a fourth on Tuesday or Wednesday, forecasters said.
There’s no precipitation in the forecast through Jan. 16, and San Diego is now experiencing the driest start of the rainy season since at least 1850. Only 0.14 inch of rain has fallen since Oct. 1.
As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, San Diego Gas & Electric had shut off power to nearly 9,000 customers to reduce the chance of strong winds knocking power lines to the ground and starting fires.
That number was expected to grow. Already the utility has notified more than 70,000 customers they face potential shutoffs.
So far, the outages have been concentrated in the county’s backcountry, mountainous and East County communities, such as Alpine, Julian, Valley Center and Boulevard.
School closures were concentrated in those areas, too. For the second day in a row, schools were closed Thursday in Mountain Empire, Warner and both Julian school districts. So were two Bonsall Unified schools, Sullivan Middle and Bonsall High.
SDG&E’s vice president of wildfire and climate science, Brian D’Agostino, described the situation as a “long-duration” windstorm that will see multiple, separate bursts of Santa Anas blow through the county.
Dozens of workers were stationed in local canyons and on mountain peaks Wednesday monitoring the winds. “We’re monitoring four different events coming through in the next seven days,” D’Agostino said at a briefing Tuesday.
According to the utility’s outage map, most circuits that had lines de-energized Wednesday were not expected to be restored until Friday or Saturday.
“SDG&E understands the difficulty of being without power and is focused on providing a variety of resources for their customers while they work to keep communities safe during high wildfire risk conditions,” it said in a statement.
A network of community resource centers has been established in areas with power outages so residents can charge their electronic devices, access Wi-Fi and get water, snacks and updates. The locations of those opened Wednesday are:
- Boulevard Community Center, 39919 Ribbonwood Road, Boulevard
- Descanso Branch Library, 9545 River Drive, Descanso
- Whispering Winds Catholic Camp, 17606 Harrison Park Road, Julian
- Pine Valley Improvement Club, 28890 Old Highway 80, Pine Valley
- Lake Morena Community Resource Center, 29765 Oak Drive, Campo
On Wednesday, Cal Fire Capt. Robert Johnson said five engines and one hand crew previously sent from Northern California to San Diego County to be on standby had been rerouted to help Los Angeles County. Another five engines and a hand crew from up north would stay in San Diego County in case of a local emergency.
Local firefighting agencies in San Diego, Poway, Chula Vista, Carlsbad and National City were also sending personnel to L.A. as part of another multi-agency strike team, which consists of four engines with four crew members each.
Pets are also getting a San Diego assist. The San Diego Humane Society sent four staffers to its Pasadena counterpart Wednesday to help free up space so the L.A.-area shelter could house newly evacuated animals.
The local group will return with 15 to 20 dogs that will be put up for adoption here, then make another trip for more. The organization is asking San Diegans to consider adopting or fostering a dog.
Staff writers Caleb Lunetta, Jemma Stephenson and Teri Figueroa contributed to this report.
Originally Published:
