Fierce winds pose new fire threat

Southern California is lining up its fire crews and aircraft to get in first if the hot, dry Santa Ana winds expected to return this weekend cause major flare-ups.

None of the more than two dozen air tankers and military helicopters that arrived from around the US to fight last month’s blazes would be returning to their home bases, said Francis Solich, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“If anything breaks loose, they’ll be here,” Solich said today.

The state also has 75 “strike teams” of five engines spread throughout Southern California, Solich says.

When more than 15 fires began breaking out across Southern California two weeks ago, it took more than 24 hours for nearly two dozen firefighting helicopters to get into the air.

By the time aircraft began arriving in large numbers, the winds were gusting at 100mph or more in some areas, making it too dangerous to use them for firefighting.

State officials initially said the winds were to blame for the slow airborne response to the fires. That version of events was later challenged by San Diego-area congressmen, some local fire officials and by government records that show it was bureaucracy that kept many aircraft grounded.

In all, the fires destroyed more than 2,000 homes across a swath of Southern California stretching from north of Los Angeles to south of San Diego.

As firefighters prepared for this weekend’s winds, several small fires continued to burn in sparsely populated areas. Also, two large ones had yet to be fully contained.

The forecast this weekend called for Santa Ana winds gusting to 50mph near the cities of San Bernardino and Fontana, east of Los Angeles, and in the mountains near hard-hit Santa Clarita, in Los Angeles County.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Riverside County yesterday because of harsh winds, which in addition to heightening the wildfire threat have damaged power lines, trees, homes and buildings.

Similar gusts were expected in the hamlet of Campo, about 60 miles east of San Diego on the Mexican border, and in the sparsely-populated mountains of Orange County.

The winds, which blow east to west from the deserts and through mountain canyons this time of year, are hot and dry, sending humidity plunging and turning wooded areas into tinderboxes.