Red-Flag Warnings Expire, Leave Brush Fires in Their Wakes

Red-flag warnings for dangerous “fire weather” have officially expired for Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties but left a slew of brush fires in their wake.

The National Weather Service had issued red-flag warnings for much of the Southland because of very low relative humidity coupled with locally gusty winds.

By 6 p.m., the winds had died off enough to expire the warnings, in place since 6 Friday morning.

The weekend, however, was not without incident.

• On Camp Pendleton, 2,500 acres burned, forced evacuations of residents and even a hospital. A base spokesman posted at 9 p.m. on Facebook that the fire was 20 percent contained.

• In southeast San Diego County, a 15-acre fire burned in Lakeside.

• In Santiago Canyon, Orange County, more than 120 firefighters “aggressively” worked Sunday to extinguish a brusher. By midnight, about 50 acres had burned, and the blaze was 25 percent contained.

• In Newhall in Los Angeles County, a brush fire forced the closure of the I-5 Freeway, bringing significant traffic to a complete halt.

• In Woodland Hills in Los Angeles County, firefighters made quick work – 19 minutes to be exact – of a vegetation fire.