The Storm Prediction Center has updated its fire weather forecast for Monday and Tuesday to include an “extremely critical” fire weather area, or a level 3 of 3, for portions of the Ventura Valley to the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California.
That’s in addition to the previously issued critical fire weather alert, or a level 2 of 3, that includes more than 8 million people.
Areas of the critical fire weather area across Southern California, which includes Riverside, Glendale, San Bernardino and Irvine, could see winds of 20-40 mph with isolated higher gusts along with very dry air. Across the extremely critical fire weather area, gusts are able to exceed 50 mph.
For Tuesday, much of the critical and extremely critical fire weather areas cover many of the same areas on Monday and have similar populations. Winds across these areas are expected to peak beginning Tuesday and could gust between 45-70 mph.
The National Weather Service has issued “Particularly Dangerous Situation” red flag warnings for parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Although not as severe as last week, these gusty winds will combine with very dry air and ongoing drought to exacerbate conditions for firefighters desperately battling to increase containment.
Meanwhile, it’s been nearly a week since the year’s first wildfire embers raced through the air over Los Angeles, carried by hurricane-level Santa Ana winds to spark some of the deadliest wildfires California has ever seen.
And in the days since, Angelenos have had to contend with remaining on high alert while rallying to help those who lost everything, all while one wind gust away from potential catastrophe.
Now, with the Palisades blaze and the nearby Eaton fire still mostly uncontained, renewed Santa Ana winds threaten to enlarge those blazes or even start new ones. So when will these fires end? And what do firefighters need to get the upper hand?
“We need Mother Nature to give us a break,” Deputy Chief Brice Bennett of Cal Fire told CNN on Sunday.
When these fires might end is only part of the equation — the longer-term question of how to come back from the fiery devastation in a world of increasing extreme weather disasters has no satisfying solution. Exhausted, emotionally tapped and expecting additional red flag warnings to start the week, the city is steeling itself for the unfathomable.
In the immediate future, trying to estimate when the wildfires will be contained is largely guesswork, and it depends on fluid factors such as the terrain and firefighter effectiveness. Yet the foremost factors are clear: wind and rain, or the lack thereof.
The remains of 95-year-old Dalyce Curry were discovered in the ruins of her Altadena home, CNN affiliate KABC reported Monday. The coroner confirmed the news to Curry’s family on Sunday shortly before 6 p.m. local time.
CNN reached out to the LA County Medical Examiner for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Curry was reported missing after the fire, which led to concerns for her safety, according to KABC.
Dalyce Kelley, Curry’s granddaughter and part-time caregiver, had dropped her grandmother off late at night following a hospital visit. Unaware of the fire’s potential, Kelley returned to check on her grandmother after receiving alerts about power outages, KABC reported.
When Kelley arrived at the scene, an officer informed her that the property had been completely destroyed. She recalled the officer saying, “I’m sorry to inform you that your grandmother’s home has been completely destroyed,” as she approached the barricade.
“It was total devastation,” Kelley told KABC. “Everything was gone except her blue Cadillac.”
Known affectionately as “Momma D,” Curry had a vibrant presence and was part of Old Black Hollywood in the 1950s, appearing as an extra in classic films like “The Ten Commandments” and “Lady Sings the Blues,” according to KABC.