Dental Implants Near Santa Ana, CA

Powerful Santa Ana winds near Los Angeles are fueling some of the most significant wildfire threats in years across Southern California.

The relentless 50-70 mph wind gusts have created a perfect storm of conditions, leading to rapid fire spread and widespread evacuations.

These conditions led to the explosion of the destructive Mountain Fire in Ventura County on Wednesday. In a matter of hours, it consumed nearly 15,000 acres. Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for parts of Ventura, Camarillo, Moorpark, and Somis, California.

Officials say the Mountain Fire that erupted Wednesday morning in Ventura County has still not been contained and has injured several people.

At least 800 firefighters are on the scene, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.

Footage released by the agency shows firefighting efforts in Camarillo Heights.

The fire had damaged several homes according to reports, but no deaths were reported.

Videos from Ventura County Supervisor Jeff Gorell show the thick smoke in Camarillo. In another video, firefighters can be seen trying to control the blaze.

Firefighters continued their relentless fight against the flames overnight, employing a combination of ground crews and night-flying helicopters.

Hundreds of mutual aid crews throughout California continue to arrive on the scene, as the fast-moving fire has impacted numerous structures.

Damage estimates are expected to begin on Thursday. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Another dangerous fire, the Broad Fire, is burning in the Malibu area, threatening homes and businesses.

The FOX Forecast Center said the Santa Ana winds peaked Wednesday morning but periods of strong and gusty northeast to east winds will continue into Thursday.

While Thursday’s conditions won’t be quite as extreme, they will remain highly conducive to fire spread.

The strongest gusts of 50-60 mph will be along and below the coastal slopes of the mountains, including around the Mountain Fire.

The lowest daytime humidity will also be found near the fire and across Ventura and Los Angeles counties, where the National Weather Service issued a rare “Particularly Dangerous Situation” Fire Weather Warning.

The wildfires have also forced school closures and power outages. The smoke from the fires has also significantly impacted air quality, prompting health alerts for residents.

A fast-moving wildfire erupted in Southern California on Wednesday, destroying homes and sending firefighters rushing to get residents out of homes and to safety, officials said.

The Mountain Fire in Ventura County prompted evacuation orders and grew to over 14,000 acres, fueled by what fire officials called a significant Santa Ana wind event.

Firefighters at the scene of the brush fire, which broke out between the communities of Moorpark and Somis, “were faced with a tough firefight,” Ventura County Fire Capt. Trevor Johnson said.

“Firefighters were right off the bat engaged in pulling people out of their houses and saving lives,” Johnson said.

The fire was moving so fast that firefighters drove residents out of the area in fire engines because of the danger, he said.

The fire department did not have a count for the number of destroyed structures.

The fire began at 8:51 a.m. local time, said the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. It was 0% contained Wednesday afternoon, and what sparked it was under investigation.

High winds prevented fixed-wing aircraft from helping fight the flames, the Ventura County Fire Department said.

A spokesperson for the fire department said several people were injured and taken to hospitals. The fire was affecting the Camarillo Heights area near Camarillo, the department said.

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Southern Calif. fire chief urges residents to evacuate ahead of fast-moving wildfire

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News helicopter video showed homes destroyed in a residential neighborhood and firefighters trying to put out the flames at another. Other homes were burning across a large area, the video showed, and fires continued to burn Wednesday night.

A retired firefighter who lives in Camarillo Heights and his two sons were using fire hoses to wet their property and stop spot fires caused by embers carried by the strong winds.

“Hell” is how he described the day in a live interview with NBC Los Angeles at the scene. “Since it started this morning, it’s been nonstop. We’re just chasing flames. The wind direction has just been swirling.”

The fire jumped State Route 118, and part of it was closed because of fire on both sides of the freeway, the California Transportation Department said. The highway was closed from Santa Clara Avenue to Tierra Rejada Road.

Smoke was also limiting visibility and slowing traffic on the busy U.S. 101 freeway, south of the state route, the department said on X.

High winds caused spot fires to ignite 2½ miles away in front of the site of the original blaze, Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said.

"Bushes are burning, grass is burning, hedgerows are burning, agricultural fields are burning, and structures are burning,” Gardner said. “This fire is moving dangerously fast.”

Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said officials made over 14,000 contacts to people in the community because of the fire, and he urged people to stay out of the area.

Johnson, of the Ventura County Fire Department, said at a news conference that he did not have details about injuries but that the blaze is challenging for firefighters.

“Everything is dangerous out there,” he said. “Driving — they can’t see 5 feet in front of their engine — operating in and around power lines, gas lines that are on fire.”

It was too dangerous to send fire inspectors to determine the scope of the destruction Wednesday, the fire department said, but officials expected a count of structures lost by Thursday.

Cal Fire, which has activated an incident management team to the Mountain Fire, said on its website that the fire had burned 14,148 acres as of late Wednesday.

The National Weather Service said high winds gusting to around 60 mph were creating extreme fire risk Wednesday. A gust around the fire area was recorded at 54 mph, it said.

A camera from the University of California San Diego public safety program ALERTCalifornia showed the fire's spread.

Steve Taylor lost his home in Camarillo, a city of around 74,000, in the fire.

“We’re shocked at the devastation. We’re not the only family that has suffered tremendous losses,” he told NBC Los Angeles. “It’s just stuff. But it’s the stuff that the memories are made out of.”

In Malibu, closer to Los Angeles, another wildfire broke out Wednesday and prompted a shelter-in-place order that was later lifted.

The Broad Fire burned around 33 acres, but its forward progress was stopped and firefighters were mopping up late Wednesday afternoon, Malibu’s city government said.

There were no injuries, but three homes were damaged in the fire, which began at around 9 a.m. near Pacific Coast Highway, Mayor Doug Stewart said.

Santa Ana winds are a California weather phenomenon that happens when air from desert areas flows toward the coast from east to west and is channeled through the mountains.

The airport in Camarillo recorded a gust of 64 mph Wednesday, part of the western Santa Monica Mountains recorded a gust of 76 mph, and there were gusts of 73 mph and 85 mph in the San Gabriel Mountains, the National Weather Service said.

Phil Helsel

Phil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.

KNOCKED LOOSE with Danny Brown, Drain, and Militarie GunThe Observatory Festival GroundsSanta Ana, CA10.26.24

Upon looking at the lineup, it seemed to lack cohesion. Los Angeles’ Militarie Gun isn’t a band many would expect to open for Knocked Loose, but that didn’t matter once they started off the night. Their energetic melodic hardcore got the crowd moving and had some circle pit action. It was a short set, but they packed it with crowd pleasers, including “Very High” and the latest single “Thought You Were Waving.” They ended with fan favorite “Do It Faster,” but they only played it once versus the three-peat they sometimes do at headlining shows.

Up next was Drain from Santa Cruz with a frenetic display of hardcore punk/thrash. Vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro was all over the place, crowdsurfing just minutes after taking the stage. It would be easy to catch a swinging arm or kicking leg on stage with him. Luckily for the fans, he wasn’t in the pit. The set list was made up of songs from 2020’s California Cursed and 2023’s Living Proof, including Descendents cover “Good Good Things.”

Seeming the most out of place on the lineup, but in the direct support slot, was rapper Danny Brown coming off last year’s collab album with JPEG Mafia, Scaring the Hoes, and his solo release Quaranta. Brown has played at the Gathering of the Juggaloes, so he’s used to bouncing around on lineups of different genres. His set was straight rap/hip-hop, with no rock or metal pandering.

When Oldham, Kentucky’s (it’s on the merch) Knocked Loose took the stage, it was mayhem. Their blistering sound bounced between hardcore and metalcore. While Drain’s show was almost equally physical, Knocked Loose pummels with its music. Vocalist Bryan Garris moves around the stage and jumps around, but he often comes off as laid-back and relaxed when not belting out his screaming vocals. There was a brief pause toward the beginning of the set due to an injury in the crowd, then it was back to circle pit city. Stepping in during Poppy’s part of “Suffocate” was Taylar Glasgow, Knocked Loose’s lighting director, throwing the crowd into a frenzy before the final song “Sit & Mourn.”

FAIR Take | October 2024

On November 5, residents of Santa Ana, California will vote on a measure that will allow noncitizen residents, including illegal aliens, to vote in municipal elections beginning in November 2028. If voters approve the measure, Santa Ana will become the first city in California to permit noncitizens to cast votes in local elections.

The city of Santa Ana first discussed the possibility of non-citizen voting in 2022, then with respect to city council and school board races. However, these discussions were postponed when a San Francisco ordinance that allowed non-citizens to vote in school board races was challenged in court for violating the state’s constitution. That litigation was based on Article II, Section 2 of the California Constitution, which provides that a “United States citizen 18 years of age and resident in this State may vote.”

After the California Court of Appeals ruled in 2023 that the San Francisco ordinance was constitutional, Santa Ana resumed its deliberations on noncitizen voting. On September 19, 2023, Santa Ana city councilmembers Johnathan Hernandez and Benjamin Vazquez submitted a request for voters to consider a proposed ballot measure allowing noncitizen voting in local municipal elections, which the city council approved by resolution on November 7, 2023.

As it appears on the ballot, Measure DD, asks voters whether “the City of Santa Ana City Charter [should] be amended to allow, by the November 2028 general municipal election, noncitizen City residents to vote in all City of Santa Ana municipal elections.” In Santa Ana, municipal elections include voting for mayor, city council, ballot measures, and initiatives. If Measure DD passes and the City Charter is amended, the City Council would need to adopt an ordinance allowing any resident, subject to a few minor disqualifying factors, to vote in local elections by November 2028 regardless of their citizenship status.

Measure DD was controversial among Santa Ana city council members. Councilmember Hernandez, one of the original sponsors of the measure, considers noncitizen voting as a means to give a voice to those already contributing to society. He stated that “many of these residents are taxpayers. Many are homeowners, business owners. They have families in our city. They have been contributing to [Orange County] making it the home it is.”

Others, like councilmember David Penaloza, believe Measure DD would impose tremendous costs on residents from potential lawsuits. Commenting on these costs, he posed the question: “What does that mean for a city that in the next four years is going to be in the red in the tens of millions of dollars?”

Despite the controversy, Measure DD is likely to pass based upon Santa Ana’s long history of subverting federal immigration law and blurring the line between citizens and noncitizens. For example, Santa Ana became the first city in Orange County to adopt a sanctuary policy and become a sanctuary city. Furthermore, the City Council had previously enacted an ordinance which allows for illegal aliens to serve on city boards, committees, and commissions by eliminating the requirement that residents must be eligible to vote in order to serve on advisory boards.

Ironically, Measure DD is being presented to voters shortly after California enacted a law to prohibit local governments from requiring voter identification when casting a ballot in local elections. That law, enacted in response to Huntington Beach’s passage of a ballot measure to require voter ID, sadly highlights the growing prioritization of noncitizens and illegal aliens over citizens. While Huntington Beach is prohibited from requiring voter ID to ensure that only citizens vote, Santa Ana is likely to permit noncitizens, including illegal aliens, to participate in public affairs and speak on equal terms as if they were US citizens.

There may be no weather pattern more iconically associated with Los Angeles than the Santa Ana winds.

One of the earliest written descriptions of the Santa Anas comes from the diary of Commodore Robert Stockton on the night of Jan. 6, 1847; the next day his forces captured Los Angeles on behalf of the United States.

And as the city has grown to assume a prominent place in American pop culture, it has given global renown to this local phenomenon, name-dropped by Raymond Chandler, Nancy Meyers and the Beach Boys.

Climate & Environment

Oct. 23, 2024

The Santa Ana winds are notorious for being hot, dry, and dusty — traits that have earned them the nickname “devil winds” — but the quality that really defines them is their direction.

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Unlike the prevailing winds in Southern California, which flow generally from west to east, carrying temperate air from the Pacific, the Santa Anas flow from northeast to southwest out of the Mojave Desert. What causes this reversal, and why does it produce such a diabolical result?

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To form the Santa Ana winds, the typical first ingredient is a chilled autumn day in the high desert of southern Nevada.

The chill creates cold, dense air, which is squeezed from aloft by a high pressure system. Normally the surface air would be contained within the Great Basin formed by the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, but the second ingredient is a low pressure system off the California coast, which creates enough gravitational potential to force the air out of the basin and pull it west toward the Pacific.

As it flows downhill, the air is compressed due to the higher weight of the atmospheric column above it. The ideal gas law (PV=nRT, if high school chemistry is just a hazy memory) tells us that when the pressure on a gas increases, its temperature does too. The result is that the descending air heats up by almost 30 degrees Fahrenheit for every vertical mile it sinks.

The dry desert air, warmed by its descent, rushes toward the coast. But the Transverse Ranges stand in the way, so the air seeks the path of least resistance through the Cajon and San Gorgonio passes. Like water spraying through a narrow nozzle, the winds are accelerated as they enter the canyons, often reaching gale-force strength by the time they exit into Los Angeles and San Bernardino.

A mild Santa Ana wind can be irritating, giving people nosebleeds and blowing sand in their eyes, but the more severe events can have deadly consequences. The most obvious risk is the high winds — during a particularly forceful episode in December 2011, gusts in excess of 50 mph toppled trees, damaged hundreds of buildings and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people.

The atypical wind direction can pose a specific risk for boats and maritime infrastructure, as harbors that are usually well protected on the leeward side of the Channel Islands are suddenly exposed to forceful gusts and waves.

An even greater danger comes from the increased potential for wildfires. Hot, dry air can rapidly extract moisture from vegetation, especially when that air is being continuously replenished by strong desert winds. The Santa Anas often bring triple-digit temperatures and a relative humidity below 10%, leading to drier fuel that can ignite more easily. Moreover, strong winds cause fires to grow and spread more quickly, since the winds provide a steady supply of oxygen, carry sparks and even bend the flames closer to the unburned material ahead of the fire.

In the last few decades, Santa Ana winds have been associated with several large wildfire clusters, including the 2007 Witch Creek fire, the 2008 Sayre fire and the 2017 Thomas fire, which was the largest wildfire in state history at the time.

Until recently, the Santa Ana winds were thought to be one of the few bright spots in climate change; a paper from 2019 predicted a future decrease in the frequency of Santa Ana winds, particularly in September and October. The authors suggested that this is due to a projected northward migration of the “Great Basin high” that tends to form over Nevada.

However, recent analysis published two years later by the same authors suggested that the decreasing trend was mostly confined to a distinct “flavor” of Santa Ana winds that, while they originate from the same location, are caused by a different mechanism and bring intense cold to Southern California instead of heat.

Although these “cold Santa Anas” can still cause wind damage, they are not typically associated with wildfire activity, and a decrease in frequency would have little effect on fire risk. Unfortunately, it seems those hot, dry days when the wind stings your eyes and sparks fly are here to stay.

Ned Kleiner is a scientist and catastrophe modeler at Verisk. He has a doctorate in atmospheric science from Harvard University.