Calif. wildfire erupts near Reagan library
A firefighter battling the Kincade fire extinguishes a hot spot as strong winds send embers flying in Calistoga, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. Millions of people have been without power for days as fire crews raced to contain two major wind-whipped blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes at both ends of the state: in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Strong winds send embers flying across Ida Clayton Rd. as the Kincade Fire burns in Calistoga, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. Millions of people have been without power for days as fire crews raced to contain two major wind-whipped blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes at both ends of the state: in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Strong winds send embers flying across Ida Clayton Rd. as the Kincade Fire burns in Calistoga, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. Millions of people have been without power for days as fire crews raced to contain two major wind-whipped blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes at both ends of the state: in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Firefighters work to douse a flare-up as the Kincade Fire burns through a vineyard in Calistoga, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. Millions of people have been without power for days as fire crews raced to contain two major wind-whipped blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes at both ends of the state: in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A helicopter prepares to drop water while battling the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. Millions of people have been without power for days as fire crews race to contain two major wind-whipped blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes at both ends of the state: in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Inmate firefighters prepare to battle the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Firefighters pass a burning structure as the Kincade fire burns in Calistoga, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Firefighter Josh Petrell monitors the Kincade Fire burning near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. The overall weather picture in northern areas is improving as powerful, dry winds bring extreme fire weather to Southern California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Inmate firefighters prepare to battle the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. Millions of people have been without power for days as fire crews race to contain two major wind-whipped blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes at both ends of the state: in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Firefighters monitor the Kincade Fire burning near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. The overall weather picture in northern areas is improving, as powerful, dry winds bring extreme fire weather to Southern California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Inmate firefighters prepare to battle the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. The overall weather picture in northern areas is improving, as powerful, dry winds bring extreme fire weather to Southern California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Inmate firefighters prepare to battle the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
An air tanker drops retardant while battling the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. The overall weather picture in northern areas is improving, as powerful, dry winds bring extreme fire weather to Southern California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
An air tanker drops retardant while battling the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. The overall weather picture in northern areas is improving as powerful, dry winds bring extreme fire weather to Southern California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
From left, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin and California Governor Gavin Newsom view a burned and home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood, Calif., Tuesday Oct. 29, 2019. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)
From left, L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin, California Governor Gavin Newsom and L.A. City Mayor Eric Garcetti tour a burned home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood, Calif., Tuesday Oct. 29, 2019. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)
From left, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin and California Governor Gavin Newsom view a burned and home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood, Calif., Tuesday Oct. 29, 2019. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)
From left, California Governor Gavin Newsome, L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin, and L.A. City Mayor Eric Garcetti tour a burned home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood, Calif., Tuesday Oct. 29, 2019. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)
From left, L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin, California Governor Gavin Newsom and L.A. City Mayor Eric Garcetti tour a burned home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood, Calif., Tuesday Oct. 29, 2019. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)
From left, L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin, California L.A. City Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Governor Gavin Newsom tour Tigertail Road in Brentwood, Calif., Tuesday Oct. 29, 2019. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)
From left, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin and California Governor Gavin Newsom view a burned home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood, Calif., Tuesday Oct. 29, 2019. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)
From left, California Governor Gavin Newsom, L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin, and L.A. City Mayor Eric Garcetti tour a burned home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood, Calif., Tuesday Oct. 29, 2019. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)
Inmate firefighters battle the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. Millions of people have been without power for days as fire crews race to contain two major wind-whipped blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes at both ends of the state: in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A helicopter drops water while battling the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. Millions of people have been without power for days as fire crews race to contain two major wind-whipped blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes at both ends of the state: in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Firefighter Alex DeLeon, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., bundles up against the cold wind on a ridge between Sonoma and Lake County as the Kincade fire burns, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019, in northern California. The flames prompted a flurry of false fire reports on the Santa Rosa plain. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A new large wildfire broke out Wednesday in Southern California amid gusty winds, forcing the evacuation of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and nearby homes.
The brush fire started just before dawn in the Simi Valley area north of Los Angeles, Ventura County officials said.
They tweeted that the fire was large without providing details on its size and said it was burning between the cities of Simi Valley and Moorpark.
Officials did not immediately say how many people were subject to evacuation orders.
Meanwhile, frustration and anger mounted across Northern California as Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the state’s largest utility, began the third round of sweeping blackouts in a week aimed at preventing its electrical equipment from being fouled by wind-whipped branches or toppling and sparking wildfires.
PG&E said Tuesday’s blackouts would affect about 1.5 million people in some 30 counties including the Sierra foothills, wine country and San Francisco Bay Area. They included 1 million still without power from a shut-off over the weekend.
In wine country north of San Francisco, firefighters coped with gusts while tackling a wildfire that has burned 86 homes and charred an area more than twice the size of San Francisco. About 90,000 buildings remained threatened. More than 150,000 people were under evacuation orders.
Winds topped out at 70 mph north of San Francisco Bay and began to ease early Wednesday, but forecasters said fire danger would remain because of continuing breezes and very dry air.
In Southern California, Santa Ana winds developed more slowly Wednesday than expected but were topping 50 mph in some areas before dawn.
The National Weather Service said the strongest winds were to the west of the section of Los Angeles where a wildfire destroyed a dozen homes on Monday.
That fire was caused when a dry branch from a eucalyptus tree was flung 30 feet by high winds into a city Department of Water and Power line, which short-circuited and sparked, the utility and Fire Department announced Tuesday.
The power line had been operating safely and the DWP had cut away brush and trees from around the line, officials said.
Mayor Eric Garcetti called it an “act of God.”
The National Weather Service called an extreme red flag warning for much of Southern California through Thursday evening, with some wind gusts reaching 80 mph. It could be the strongest wind event in years.
Coupled with tinder-dry brush and low humidity, they could blow the smoldering fire back to life and spread embers to start new blazes, authorities warned.
Southern California Edison, which had previously made safety shutoffs and then restored power, cut power to 38,000 customers and warned that it could black out more than 300,000 customers, or some 600,000 people.
Also Tuesday, Edison announced in a quarterly earnings report that it was “likely” its equipment caused last year’s Woolsey Fire, which killed three people and destroyed hundreds of homes in a swatch stretching from north of Los Angeles south through Malibu to the sea.
No deaths were reported from the current fires but weekend gusts may have claimed three lives. A 55-year-old homeless woman was crushed by a falling tree during high winds Sunday at a Santa Cruz campsite and a couple was killed the same day in a remote area of Madera County when a tree fell on their Jeep, which then crashed.
Comments
Quite the resume Sergeant Fraud.
Anyone cheering on disaster should be under close watch.
Got that editor? Hello? Where's the moderator?
No... Reagan's...
A CNN reporter, Keith Boykin
"For those who think God punishes sinners with natural disasters,"
Finally, CNN goes spiritual... for ratings, or rantings?
And then you have the Comrade...
sick!
The moderator of this board needs to keep an eye on her.
Hey tomorrow is breakfast. 7:00AM
My post was posted with certainty, and wisdom. Prophetic? This was sure to come...
Jerry Brown told Congress that President Donald Trump and the Republican Party were responsible for the ongoing California fires because of their opposition to drastic climate change policies.
Mike Royko would be chiming in but... So... Jerry (Moonbeam) Brown, now tickles the ears of snowflakes. Some things never change.
Why is it the liberals always blame shift?
Moonbeams... Calling all Moonbeams!
Mike Royko... RIP
I just think its hilarious that you think the CNN reporter was being serious
Another report gets in to funds that would go toward burying power lines, got sucked up in litigation, and adhering to green demands. After all, the power company is trying to do business in California. Not many businesses remain there.