More Santa Ana winds to bring extreme wildfire risk to Southern California this weekend: The National Weather Service declared a “high fire danger” Saturday during the peak of two large fires that are expected to reach Southern California late Saturday night and early Sunday. No evacuations or other changes are expected.
The National Weather Service says the strong Santa Ana winds will bring fire danger to some places from late Saturday night through Sunday morning.
There are no evacuations or other changes in the weather forecasts for Friday or Saturday in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties.
The fire danger warning was also in effect for Sonoma County. Los Angeles County had a similar warning in place for Friday as well.
The weather service did not make any evacuation orders, but some of the strongest winds will be near these areas when the fires reach them.
A fire in the hills to the east of Lake Arrowhead and a fire near Saguaro National Park could be among the largest threats, with wind gusts up to 130 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
In the Antelope Valley, winds could be up to 70 miles per hour with gusts up to 90.
Winds of up to 50 miles per hour were forecast over the Antelope Hills early Friday and along the San Andreas fault near Los Angeles at about 10 p.m.
Firefighters are preparing for the worst.
“We’re anticipating a lot of brush fire activity,” said Scott McClelland, a retired firefighter and president of the American Red Cross’s Sonoma County chapter.
As of Friday night, he estimated that nearly half of the fires burning in Northern California were out of control or under control.
Firefighters worked to control 15 fires, McClelland reported, including a fire in the hills near Yosemite National Park and the Thomas Fire, which was declared a state and national emergency Thursday night.
The Thomas Fire is currently burning in the town of Tomales in Ventura County, said McClelland.
The National Weather Service said the Thomas Fire had grown to 1,819 acres by noon Friday, according to an update on its website.
The largest of the Santa Ana wind