Santa Ana winds kick-up fire danger across SoCal, power shutoffs impacting northern California

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Large swaths of California were without power Monday as utilities sought to prevent the chance of their equipment sparking wildfires while the fire-weary state was buffeted by powerful winds and dangerously dry weather conditions.  

“Any spark, any open flame under these conditions, under these winds is going to grow very rapidly," Daniel Berlant from CAL FIRE said.

More than 1 million people were expected to be in the dark Monday during what officials have said could be the strongest wind event in California this year. As many as 386,000 customers in 36 counties are experiencing planned outages in northern California and another 71,000 could be affected in Southern California.

Parts of Ventura County are included in Southern California Edison's power shutoff plans. As of 6 a.m. Monday no shutoff had been put in place in Southern California.

The National Weather Service has issued red flag warnings for much of the state. Those warnings won't expire until 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Throughout California some 5,000 firefighters remain on the frontlines of wildfires already burning. CAL FIRE says there are 20 wildfires right now that have crews working on them. And with fire weather picking up across the state all of us need to be ready.

"Make sure you have all your important documents set aside, an emergency supply kit, anything you will need to take if you are evacuated," Berlant said. "In some cases especially under these type of conditions where we can see incredibly fast moving wildfires you may only be given minutes to evacuate your home.”