No emergency outages after Santa Ana winds prompted Southern California fire danger warnings, fire officials say
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By the time the Santa Ana winds arrive, Southern California is prepared for a busy Christmas, as crews work to contain a blaze that broke out last weekend and has burned more than 22,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties
Santa Ana winds are expected to continue to push through the area through late Saturday night and early Sunday, but the main fire could be contained, Santa Barbara County Fire Information Officer Jennifer Hernandez said.
A Santa Ana winds advisory is in effect for the Ventura County Fairgrounds, the fairgrounds south of Ventura Boulevard and the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Oxnard in addition to the Big Bear Fire in San Bernardino county. Santa Barbara County has its own weather center that issues different warnings for Santa Barbara County. The latest advisory for the Big Bear fire, issued Sunday at 7:20 p.m., said “large, uncharacterized area of flame.”
That fire now has over 22,300 acres and there are 2,400 personnel at the job, said Rick Yorton, chief of the Ventura County Fire Protection District and county emergency operations manager.
Yorton said there is “no imminent threat to life,” but the firefighters are concerned with the fire’s rapid growth, which is threatening trees and power lines.
“Everything’s going to be okay, but they’re really trying to get the growth to slow down or stop,” Yorton said.
A mandatory evacuation Sunday on the Santa Rosa area of Ventura County is under way, he said.
The mandatory evacuation will be lifted when the wind stops overnight, Yorton said.
“If we can get the winds at a safe enough speed when they go away from us, we can re-open and then we can get it back closed tomorrow morning,” Yorton said.
