Facing growing gusts and a weekend forecast of dangerous Santa Ana winds, firefighters scrambled Friday to snuff out smoldering sticks and stumps that are just a whiff away from another inferno.
A passing cold front spawned 60-mph gusts Friday, presaging the second coming of Santa Ana winds that spawned wildfires earlier this week, burning 41,000 across Southern California and damaging or destroying 110 homes.In northern California, 2,300 people were fighting the week-old "Sur Fire," which had burned more than 4,400 acres by Friday and was only 25 percent contained due to winds and steep, inaccessible terrain along the coast.
While winds were lighter in Malibu, the hunt for embers lurking on 13,010 ash-covered acres of the Santa Monica Mountains around Los Angeles was no less important.
Crews trudged up and down steep slopes and canyons looking for telltale smoke or stumps and branches where embers might remain, trying to defeat the fire shovelful by shovelful in a race against the winds.
"There's still some heavy brush that's continuing to smolder and we're having difficulty getting to," said fire Capt. Steve Valenzuela. "We're using helicopter water drops and crews hiking miles back into the fire area to get to those spots before the Santa Ana winds come."
What makes their job crucial, Valenzuela said, is the fact that Santa Ana winds can pick up the embers and carry them one to two miles away, triggering a whole new round of wildfires.
Hundreds of county firefighters were on standby in case fires flared again.