Lighter winds and cooler temperatures allowed firefighters to slow the growth of a fire in Simi Valley that forced tens of thousands of residents out of their homes, firefighting officials said.
As crews made progress against the Sandy fire after sunset Monday evening, authorities began to lift evacuation warnings in some areas.
Four areas that were under evacuation warnings to the fire’s north and west saw those warnings lifted after 9 p.m. Monday, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Emergency Service’s website.
Several other neighborhoods in the area remained threatened and under evacuation orders after sunrise, however.
“We don’t want to get complacent,” Andrew Dowd, a spokesperson for the Ventura County Fire Department said. “This is the time to dig in … for if and when that fire behavior does increase.”
The Sandy fire in Ventura County began just before 11 a.m. Monday off Sandy Avenue and raced toward nearby homes within minutes, destroying one. It had burned across 1,386 acres as of Tuesday morning and was 5% contained.
As the smoke and flames spread when the fire broke out, authorities began to issue evacuation warnings ahead of its path on Monday. At one point, some 28,000 people were under an evacuation order, officials said.
By Tuesday morning, that number was hovering around 17,000 residents, Dowd said.
Still, an evacuation warning in Ventura County was in effect in county-line areas near Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Chatsworth, West Hills and the Lake Manor neighborhood. Evacuation zones in Los Angeles County are listed on the county’s site. Information on evacuations in Ventura County are available on their website.
On Monday, the Los Angeles Fire Department pre-positioned resources in the San Fernando Valley just in case the fire grew out of control.
“While the Sandy Fire is in Ventura County, the Los Angeles Fire Department continues to closely monitor the situation and has deployed resources on the ground — including strike teams, a hand crew, and helicopters — to assist local crews in firefighting efforts,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “At this time, we do not expect the wildfire to reach the City of Los Angeles.”
Wind-driven fires on a dry landscape are extremely dangerous, as multiple fast-moving wildfires in the last two years have shown.
Winds were gusting at 25 to 35 mph gusts in the valleys, and up to 40 mph on the ridge tops in the area of the fire, Devin Black, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said of the conditions in Simi Valley on Monday.
Tuesday was expected to be less windy, with gusts peaking at 25 to 35 mph, but slightly warmer and drier, said Ryan Kittell, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. High temperatures were projected to reach 83 to 86 degrees, with humidity levels between 8% and 12%, he said.
The winds were expected to switch from northeast offshore to southwesterly onshore winds around 3 p.m., he said. The transition could result in erratic winds, which could enhance fire activity and send up a fast-growing plume, he said.
On Monday evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that his office had secured a fire management assistance grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to bolster the response to the Sandy fire. Local, state and tribal agencies will be able to apply for 75% reimbursement of their eligible fire suppression costs.
The blaze — one of several that recently broke out in Southern California, including a fire that’s scorched 16,600 acres of Santa Rosa Island — came as the region sits on the precipice of its high fire season.
While there’s “no perfect on / off switch” that determines when that season begins, fire agencies track vegetation moisture levels, which are the main drivers of the region’s fire activity, Kittell said.
“Right now, the latest readings show we’re right on the cusp of when most of the plants are ready to burn,” he said. “It’s still kind of a mixed bag but we’re getting real close.”