Red Flag Warning: Fire Alert For Riverside County Residents

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA – As several large wildfires continued to burn in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties, Riverside County remained under a red flag warning Wednesday, with the National Weather Service predicting the most dangerous fire conditions and Santa Ana wind gusts approaching 90 miles per hour will begin Wednesday evening and continue into Thursday.

The red flag warning, which was set to expire Thursday but has been extended until Friday, signifies a high risk of wildfire because of high winds and low humidity. Those are the same conditions that were driving the Thomas Fire, which had scorched more than 55,000 acres and destroyed 150 structures in Ventura County as of Wednesday morning.

The National Weather Service also extended a high wind warning until 4 p.m. Friday. That warning indicates sustained wind speeds of 40 miles per hour and 58-mph gusts, though even stronger winds and gusts up to 90 mph are expected to begin Wednesday evening and continue throughout Thursday.

The red flag and high wind warnings both covered the Riverside metropolitan area, the Riverside County valleys and mountains, and the San Gorgonio Pass near Banning. The high wind warning also was in effect in Corona, Idyllwild, Pine Cove, Banning and Desert Hot Springs.

Neither a red flag warning nor a high wind warning were issued for the Coachella Valley, where mild weather was expected to continue Wednesday and throughout the end of the week. High temperatures in the Coachella Valley will be 73 to 78 degrees Wednesday with wind gusts up to 35 mph that are unrelated to
the Santa Ana event west of the mountains.

Under a red flag warning Monday, a fire broke out around 12:30 p.m. in the Santa Ana River bottom between Riverside and Jurupa Valley, authorities said. It charred 10 acres and threatened multiple homes before it was partially contained.

Also on Monday, the Thomas Fire erupted in Ventura County and continued its destructive path Wednesday. Meanwhile in Los Angeles County, the Creek Fire has burned more than 11,000 acres and the Rye Fire burned about 5,000 acres as of early Wednesday morning. And in San Bernardino County, the Little
Mountain Fire scorched 100 acres as of Wednesday morning.

Helping somewhat to mitigate the fire danger in Riverside County and elsewhere in Southern California have been the relatively mild temperatures, though a warming trend is expected to begin Wednesday. High temperatures will be 72 to 77 degrees in Riverside and the Inland Empire, 57 to 64 in the mountains and
70 to 75 at the San Gorgonio Pass near Banning and Desert Hot Springs.

But the fire threat this week doesn't come from high temperatures.

Instead, it's the strong winds combined with dry vegetation and humidity levels expected to be in the 5 to 15 percent range.

The U.S. Forest Service's Santa Ana Wildfire Threat Index, which categorizes Santa Ana winds based on anticipated fire potential as extreme, high, moderate, marginal or no rating, predicts that Wednesday there will be a moderate threat but Thursday's threat will be extreme.

A moderate threat means that "upon ignition, fires will grow rapidly and will be difficult to control," according to the index. Thursday's extreme threat means that "upon ignition, fires will have extreme growth, will burn very intensely, and will be uncontrollable."

The NWS warned residents to "avoid activities that could spark a fire" and warned of the dangers of high winds that include power outages and damaged or toppled trees or power lines.

ALSO SEE:

• Skirball Fire Shuts Down 405 Freeway In Sepulveda Pass: LATEST

• Creek Fire Jumps Freeway Forcing 150,000 To Evacuate

• Thomas Fire Grows To 55,000 Acres; Zero Percent Contained

• Rye Fire: 7,000 Acres Burned, 5% Contained, 5,000 Evacuated

• Southern California Fires: Over 177K Evacuated, 55K Acres Burned

--City News Service/Image via Autumn Johnson, Patch