Firefighters worked to stop the fire from going over the hill to the enclave of homes on the other side. The reservoir, which appears dry is in the background.
A five-acre brush fire was reported in the Palisades Highlands near the Santa Ynez Reservoir and adjacent to Topanga State Park at 9:50 a.m. on November 13.
According to LAFD this is “slow moving in heavy brush. It is topography driven (not wind) with steep slopes.” The cause of the fire is under investigation.
An hour later, LAFD reported that more than “60 firefighters on scene have stopped all forward progress. The precisely targeted, rapid water drops from LAFD Air Operations combined with the firefighter’s aggressive fire attack on the ground held the fire to approximately one acre (revised from initial size).”
Los Angele Fire Department Margaret Stewart told KTLA News that this area is a challenge because there are no hydrants, but that water tenders (large trucks carrying water) were being sent to the area.
“Fortunately, we’re not in a Santa Ana event,” she said, “but the moisture level in our vegetation is critically low.”
Bruce Schwartz captured this photo of a water-dropping helicopter at the Highlands fire on around 9:50 a.m. on November 13.
Water-dropping helicopters, which come from the Van Nuys Airport, were deployed to stop the fire from going over the hill to large homes on the other side, located on a street, Calle Del Jonella.
Last week portions of Ventura County were not so lucky. The National Weather Service had issued a rare “Particular Dangerous Situation” alert, which is a rare weather advisory that forecasters say is issued only once every few years due to especially severe conditions.
The Mountain Fire started November 6 at 8:51 a.m.in the Somis area, northeast of Camarillo. The cause of that fire is still under investigation. Then, there was a Santa Ana “event” and meteorologists tracked some gusts blowing more than 60 miles per hour. Strong winds grounded firefighting fixed-wing aircraft within the first hours of the wildfire, adding another hurdle toward full containment, fire officials said.
As of today, the Mountain Fire was 60 percent contained. About 20,630 acres were destroyed and more than 200 structures damaged/destroyed and s=10 people injured. Additionally, the county is the state’s top avocado-producing region and lost over 500 acres of avocado-growing land. The fire also destroyed 130 acres of citrus crops, valued at $1.3 million in revenue, $300,000 in nursery stock, about 10 acres of raspberries and 2,500 acres of range land, according to the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Korinne Bell.
Drew Smith, fire behavior analyst with LAFD, said the wet weather last season which resulted in built-up dry brush and the strong Santa Ana winds spelled a disaster.
“We’re coming off of two years of above-average rainfall, which gives us a very robust grass component,” Smith said. “And those fine fuels that are receptive to warm, dry, windy (weather) supports the recipe to support large fire growth when we have high winds.”
Santa Ana winds are caused when high pressure builds in the Great Basin (between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada) and flow towards the low pressure off the California Coast. The dry winds blow east to west. The reference to Santa Ana winds is found in an 1882 L.A. Times archive.
Or as former Palisades resident Raymond Chandler wrote in Red Wind: A Collection of Short Stories, There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot, dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch.”
Luckily the November 13 fire was not pushed by Santa Ana winds or the Castellammare area of the Palisades and Sunset Mesa, which are west of the Highlands, might have been impacted.
(Editor’s note: Is there an update on people in Southern California being able to buy fire insurance, particularly given the gravity of the loss of homes in Ventura?)