The red flag warning that was issued for Wednesday through Friday for the mountain areas north of Los Angeles has led to four major wildfires that are currently burning in the area.
- The Station fire on the Angeles Crest Highway, above La Canada Flintridge in the Angeles National Forest, started Wednesday afternoon. We had a photo from that fire earlier. It is threatening the Angeles Crest U.S. Forest Service fire station on the highway. It has burned at least 500 acres and is very active. About 500 homes were evacuated Thursday night. It is 5% contained.
- The Morris fire near Azusa started on Tuesday and has burned about 2,000 acres and is 60% contained.
- The RPV (or PV) Portuguese fire in the Rancho Palos Verdes area started Thursday night and has burned at least 75 acres and at least two to three structures, including one of a retired firefighter. Many other structures are threatened and evacuations are under way.
- The Cottonwood fire east of Hemet started Thursday afternoon has burned 400-600 acres. An incident management team has been ordered.
These fires are driven by single-digit humidities and record high temperatures. There is so little wind that the smoke is hanging in the basins, mixing with the normal smog, and creating awful air quality.
