Ventura County braces for even stronger winds
OXNARD, Calif. - Phones are being answered non-stop at the National Weather Service located in Oxnard.
NWS meteorologists have been giving first responders and TV forecasters up-to-the-minute information since the Palisades Fire broke out before noon on Tuesday.
Dr. Robbie Munroe took a break from a zoom with first responders to talk about how important it is to pay attention to information being released as the winds grow stronger.
"This a particularly dangerous situation especially for residents of eastern Ventura County and portions of the coast and valleys especially the mountains of western Los Angeles County and we are anticipating wind gusts in the 60-80 miles an hour range in some of those areas which is as strong or stronger than we have seen already this year, even though we have seen several strong Santa Ana conditions," said Munroe. "And with that we will have very extreme fire behavior likely lasting through at least Wednesday afternoon for much of the region so with that I advise you to take care with any fire ignition sources and be prepped for any planned or unplanned power outages."
Munroe and the NWS Operations Officer, John Dumas, both evacuated during the recent Mountain Fire in Camarillo.
The NWS office evacuated during the Mountain Fire late last year, too.
Dumas said he stayed at Crowne Plaza by the pier where they gave evacuees special rates.
"It is a busy energetic atmosphere, we love what we do, we love getting out there protecting the pubic serving our partners such as emergency managers police and so forth and the fire community, but it does keep us on our toes," said Munroe.
When this event ends, don't let your guard down, Munroe said it looks like the Santa Ana conditions will continue on into early next week.
Ventura County is hosting a community preparedness meeting at 6 p.m. at Rancho Campaña High School, despite the fire fight going on in Los Angeles County.
Santa Anas are similar to Sundowners but from a different directions.
"Sundowners are used yo those winds from the Santa Ynez range from the north or northwest for the Santa Ana's it is more from the northeast."
He said the areas is looking dry for the next week or two but that could change at the end of the month.
"Heed local emergency officials evacuation warning or suggestions and take care of your family and neighbors."
Some surfers catching waves in Ventura didn't hear about the fire until they got out of the water at C-Street near the Ventura County Fairgrounds.
Santa Barbara City College student, Michael Phillips, said he probably won't surf again tomorrow due to the strong winds.
"There were some gusts but it didn't affect my surfing, I didn't know about the fire at all, that is pretty crazy," said Phillips." I hope the people in the fire are okay and evacuated okay."
A haze is hanging over Ventura where the air quality appears to be impacted by the fire to the south.
For more information visit, https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/map/?wfo=lox or https://www.firfe.ca.gov
Your News Channel will have more on the fire danger and winds throughout the week.
