LOS ANGELES — Faced with a record-setting heat wave sweltering California and fueling two major fires, officials extended a flex alert calling for voluntary energy conservation through Friday, hoping to prevent rolling blackouts.
During a flex alert, consumers are urged to reduce their electricity use from 4 to 9 p.m., when the grid is most stressed because of high demand and less available energy from solar panels.
Flex alerts were also issued Wednesday and Thursday. The heat wave is expected to extend well into next week.
The move comes as firefighters began to make progress on a large fire burning in northern L.A. County.
Officials took the unusual step Thursday of pulling back some of the firefighters on the front lines of the Route fire burning along the Grapevine after several crew members suffered heat-related illness.
The order to pull back, a fire official said, was to reduce the risk to firefighters tackling the most grueling tasks as temperatures soared past 110 degrees in the area. Instead, crews would focus on an aerial assault after seven firefighters had already been treated for heat-related injuries the day before.
“It’s a tactical pause for the crews that are experiencing the greatest heat impact,” Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief Thomas C. Ewald said. “We’re just trying to reduce the strain being placed on line firefighters.”
The heat wave is expected to last into next week, perhaps as late as Wednesday, bringing high temperatures to both inland and coastal areas and heightening fire dangers.
Crews made some progress Thursday in their battle against the wildfire near Castaic, which had burned 5,208 acres, but officials said the high temperatures and fire conditions on the front lines should serve as a warning of the extreme fire risk in the coming days.
“It should be a wake-up call to us all,” said U.S. Forest Service Fire Chief Robert Garcia. “The days ahead are going to be very challenging.”
The Route fire was 12% contained by Thursday morning, according to an incident update by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
One home was destroyed, and 550 other structures remained threatened by fast-moving flames that Garcia described as “explosive fire behavior.”
As the heat climbed Thursday afternoon, however, fire officials said they weren’t seeing immediate threats to structures or lives, and decided to pull back some of the firefighters on the ground until the temperatures dropped somewhat later in the day.
“I think once the sun goes down, we’ll see the temperatures drop and the capability of the crews to get out there and do successful work when the heat is a little less,” Ewald said.
By 1 p.m., all evacuation orders were lifted and residents were allowed to return to their homes.
Still, fire officials said engine companies would remain on the ground to try to expand containment lines around the fire.
It’s rare for fire officials to pull back resources, especially when high temperatures increase the threat of fires, but Ewald said that “the No. 1 threat right now is to our firefighters. We want to back off the intensity a little bit.”
On Wednesday, seven firefighters were taken to a hospital with what officials said were heat-related injuries, and fire officials hoped to avoid more injuries as temperatures stayed above 110 degrees Thursday afternoon.
“For our folks that are out there, they don’t have the opportunity to go into an air-conditioned environment,” Ewald said. “They’re on the line, they’re not in the shade. Their No. 1 tool is hydration and preparation.”
Nine helicopters and two fixed-wing planes were used throughout the night to fight the fire. The aircraft were in the air by 6:30 a.m. Thursday, dumping fire retardant and water to put out hot spots and establish a perimeter around the fire.
But the heat wave and extreme fire conditions across the state also threatened to spread resources thin. Fire officials made sure to launch aircraft early Thursday morning, mindful that they could be diverted to a fire threatening homes near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Low humidity, excessive heat and steep terrain also threaten responders’ efforts. According to the incident report, teams are focused on keeping the fire west of Castaic Lake, east of Palomas Canyon, south of Fall Creek and north of Lake Hughes Road.
The fire was first reported along the 5 Freeway near Lake Hughes Road just after noon Wednesday, leading to full lane closures in both directions. According to the California Department of Transportation, one northbound lane and two southbound lanes between Lake Hughes Road and Templin Highway remained closed Thursday. There was no timeline on when they might reopen.
The blaze also led to evacuation orders for north of Northlake Hills Elementary School and south of Templin Highway. The orders were lifted by Thursday afternoon, welcomed news for residents fleeing the fire and looking to still escape the scorching heat.
Cesar Constantino, 48, and his wife weren’t in their Paradise Ranch Estates mobile home when the fire started Wednesday, but their phones started ringing with calls from neighbors warning them about the approaching flames.
Their three kids grabbed the family’s important documents, their dog, Jokey, and their two Guinea pigs and headed to the Red Cross evacuation center at West Ranch High School for the night.
Constantino and nearly 40 others spent the night in the gym, where they struggled with no air conditioning. On Thursday afternoon, he sat near the front of the gym where residents were to check in, the only place with a working air-conditioning unit.
Instead, the shelter is equipped with four large fans to keep people cool. Some residents instead opted to sleep in their cars in the parking lot.
On Thursday morning, the property manager warned Constantino electricity and water were still off at the mobile home park.
“We need air conditioning,” he said. “Maybe we’ll get to go back tonight.”
Capt. Mark McCurdy with Los Angeles County Station 149 and his crew were the first on the scene of the fire Wednesday when they saw it quickly spreading on grass on the northbound side of the 5 Freeway.
Even then, the heat took a toll on the firefighters.
“I’ve done this for a little while now and yesterday was even tough on me,” he said. “A day like yesterday, you still push as hard as you would on a regular day, but it just makes it tougher.”
The Red Cross was operating its shelter at West Ranch High School, at 26255 W. Valencia Blvd. in Santa Clarita, but had closed a shelter at Frazier Mountain High School by Thursday afternoon. With evacuation orders lifted, a spokesperson for the Red Cross said, there was no longer a need for the two locations.
Northlake Hills Elementary School remained closed Thursday. Castaic-area high schools remained open.
Videos from KTLA-TV show that parts of the blaze produced fire whirls Wednesday afternoon. At least 378 firefighters, two fixed-wing aircraft and nine helicopters were assigned to the fire Thursday morning.
L.A. County Fire Inspector Craig Little said the blaze was being driven by fuels parched by years of drought.
The first day of a punishing heat wave brought new temperature records to the Los Angeles area Wednesday.
Woodland Hills reached 112 degrees, breaking the previous record for the date of 111 degrees set in 1998, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
The temperature could continue climbing “and probably isn’t done yet,” meteorologists said.
Burbank’s high of 112 broke the previous daily record of 108 degrees set in 2017, and Sandberg reached 100 degrees, exceeding the previous high of 98 degrees, also in 2017, the weather service said.
Authorities are worried about power capacity in part because high temperatures are forecast not just across inland regions that typically broil this time of year, but also along many parts of the coast.
That could mean many more people turning on their air conditioners during peak hours.
Officials are asking Californians to limit electricity use when possible to minimize strain on the state’s energy providers, otherwise risking rolling blackouts. Losing power during such extreme heat can be highly dangerous, if not deadly, especially for the most vulnerable.
