Jan 8 (The Washington Post): Tens of thousands of residents on the west and east sides of Los Angeles have had to evacuate as firefighters struggle to deploy enough resources to battle two wildfires that erupted and spread rapidly due to powerful, dry Santa Ana winds.

The Palisades Fire — which broke out near the Pacific Palisades, a residential neighbourhood on the west side of Los Angeles — has grown to at least 2,921 acres, according to Cal Fire. Then, around 6:30 p.m., the Eaton Fire erupted about an hour to the northeast, near the Altadena area. It is now at more than 400 acres and is threatening scores of homes.

Nearly half of the 42,000 residents in the Altadena area were ordered to leave in a matter of minutes. Los Angeles Fire Department officials said earlier that the Palisades Fire threatened more than 10,000 structures and forced the evacuation of some 30,000 people. Power has also gone out for homes on the east and west sides of the city.

The LAFD has asked for all off-duty staff to make themselves available, the first time it has done so in 19 years, according to LAFD public information officer Margaret Stewart.

The fires sparked during a “life-threatening and destructive” windstorm event that is sweeping through the region, which has not seen significant rain since spring.

‘Extremely dangerous fire behavior’ likely overnight, UCLA researcher warns

It was a “small miracle” that the Palisades Fire was the only large blaze to develop, as dry winds whipped across Southern California on Tuesday, climate scientist Daniel Swain said.

“I have a hard time believing that will continue to be the case overnight,” the UCLA researcher said in a briefing he streamed on YouTube.

While winds gusted up to 60 to 80 mph in mountainous areas, and 30 to 50 mph in valley areas Tuesday afternoon, even stronger winds were likely to develop in the overnight hours, Swain said.

The National Weather Service warned that the strongest winds were expected from Tuesday evening into early Wednesday afternoon.

“The San Gabriel mountains, Santa Susana mountains, and foothills of the San Gabriel/San Fernando Valleys will likely see areas of destructive wind gusts between 80 and 100 mph!” the Weather Service said in a “red flag” fire weather warning Tuesday afternoon.

There had already been an “extensive” loss of structures from the Palisades Fire as the winds whipped glowing embers into anything in their path. As that continues overnight, and with even stronger winds, any fires that spark would produce “extremely dangerous fire behaviour” and could essentially be “unstoppable,” Swain said.

“Maybe we get lucky. Maybe people are really careful,” he said. “With the magnitude of winds that are inbound, that’s going to be very difficult.”