LOS ANGELES, Calif. (NBC) – High winds are making things even scarier in California as wildfires are flaring up all over the state.
Millions are being evacuated to safer areas and thousands of homes are still at risk.
In Los Angeles, there’s a flurry of activity inside the command center and staging area with fire teams on high alert, getting ready for what could be the most crucial and difficult 36-48 hours of their fight.
The National Weather Service has issued, for the first time in their history, an Extreme Red Flag Warning. The big concern is wind.
Forecasters say fire conditions, not only here but across the state, are some of the worst and most severe they have seen in recent history.
Right now, more than 26 million people are under Red Flag Warnings, so that gives you some idea of the scope here.
What are firefighters doing here? Digging in, doing the best that they can to prepare for these extreme winds. Which in some areas could reach gusts of up to 80 miles-per-hour or more.
These winds are going to grab embers, they’re going to push flames and they’re going to start new blazes. So they’ve got a lot of teams at the ready. Especially in these areas where they’ve got a lot of hot spots and potential for flare-ups. And that’s a situation that’s going to extend over the next couple of days, at the very least here.
Hundreds of thousands have already been evacuated from their homes in the Los Angeles area through the north in the wine country just outside of San Francisco.
If the winds react the way forecasters predict, that number could grow substantially.
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