Red Flag Warning Extended Through Oct. 17: Santa Monica Mountains Parks Close Under New Protocol, SCE Weighs Shutoffs for 245,700 Customers

LOS ANGELES — There are new official developments in the season's first Santa Ana wind event, and GSM is following up. According to an October 14 notice from the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), the National Weather Service's Los Angeles/Oxnard office has a Red Flag Warning in effect from Thursday, October 15, through 8 p.m. Saturday, October 17 — an extension beyond the earlier Friday 10 p.m. expiry — and 22 MRCA-managed parks and preserves will be closed on all three days.

Latest confirmation Thursday morning: In its 8:41 a.m. statement, the NWS Los Angeles office confirmed the Red Flag Warning now runs until 8 p.m. Saturday for both the mountains and foothills and the valleys and coasts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties — northeast winds of 20 to 40 mph with gusts of 50 to 70 mph in the mountains, gusts of 45 to 55 mph (isolated 65 mph) in the valleys and along the coast, minimum relative humidity of 8 to 15 percent, and the strongest winds from Thursday afternoon through Friday afternoon. A new Red Flag Warning was added for the interior mountains of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties and the Cuyama Valley, in effect from 3 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, upgraded from a fire weather watch. Heat builds alongside the winds and peaks Friday, with highs in the 80s to 90s across many coastal and valley areas; heat advisories from the Los Angeles and San Diego weather offices run through 8 p.m. Saturday.

Background: GSM previously reported that the Weather Service had issued the season's first Santa Ana Red Flag Warning for much of Los Angeles County for October 15-16, with mountain gusts of 50 to 70 mph; that the governor directed fire resources to be prepositioned; that Pasadena imposed Red Flag parking restrictions in its high fire hazard zones; and that Hidden Hills ordered a citywide ban on open flames.

First, the park closures mark the first use of a new coordinated protocol. California State Parks, the National Park Service, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the MRCA announced on October 14 that their joint protocol for closing parklands during Red Flag Warnings in the Santa Monica Mountains will be used for the first time on October 15. MRCA's own closure list includes Cameron Nature Preserve at Puerco Canyon, Corral Canyon Park, Escondido Canyon Park, Tuna Canyon Park, Top of Topanga Overlook, Franklin Canyon Park, King Gillette Ranch and the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve among 22 sites. State parks including Topanga, Malibu Creek, Leo Carrillo and Point Mugu, and National Park Service sites such as Paramount Ranch, will also close or are likely to close under the protocol, and agencies asked visitors to check their destination's status before leaving home.

Second, the scale of possible power shutoffs has been published. Reuters reported on October 14 that Southern California Edison (SCE) was considering Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) that could affect up to 245,700 customers in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern and Tulare counties — the largest number under consideration this year — and that no final decision had been made, with any shutoff to depend on real-time weather and fire conditions. The Santa Monica Daily Press reported SCE had notified the City of Malibu that its Cuthbert, Galahad, Maguire and Merlin circuits could be de-energized starting at midnight on October 15. NBC Los Angeles reported SCE figures putting 95,284 Los Angeles County customers in areas where shutoffs were in effect or under consideration.

Third, county emergency structures are activating. Los Angeles County previously announced its Emergency Operations Center and Joint Information Center would activate Thursday morning, with the Fire Department augmenting staffing and pre-positioning ground and aerial resources and the Sheriff's Department stepping up monitoring and regional coordination. Separately, the NWS San Diego office's 5:33 a.m. Thursday update keeps its high wind warnings running into Saturday: the Inland Empire valleys of San Bernardino and Riverside counties until 8 p.m. Saturday; the Riverside and San Diego county mountains and the San Gorgonio Pass until midnight Saturday night; the Santa Ana Mountains until noon Saturday; and the San Bernardino County mountains until 8 p.m. Friday — with the strongest winds on Friday and gusts over 65 mph possible near the Cajon Pass. As of Thursday morning, the official and wire pages checked for this update showed no new major fire incident bulletin from CAL FIRE tied to this wind event.

Update (Thursday morning): The National Weather Service has extended the Red Flag Warning for Los Angeles and Ventura counties to 8 p.m. Saturday, October 17, and added a Friday Red Flag Warning for the interior mountains of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. This story has been updated with the latest warning text, timing and wind figures.

(Sources: MRCA notice, Oct. 14; joint park agency release, Oct. 14; Reuters, Oct. 14; Santa Monica Daily Press; NBC Los Angeles; NWS Los Angeles and San Diego warning texts, Oct. 14–15; Los Angeles County)

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: CC BY 1.0（Wikimedia Commons，Geographer）

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