More than 30,000 acres of southern California have burned in the last week.
While the impacted area is largely urban, USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey explains how nearby agricultural communities are being affected.
“As you move up into the hills it’s more sparsely populated, but there are some agricultural lands there, some ranch lands, and we saw that back in December with the Franklin Fire that burned through some agricultural communities, and that has happened again. Damage is extensive to farm buildings, fencing, and to animals, unfortunately. And so, we are dealing with some of the agricultural consequences in the far northern suburbs of Los Angeles with these larger fires,” Rippey explains.
While the winds died down over the weekend, the danger is farm from over, with heavy gusts expected later this week.
According to Rippey, “We see a new high-pressure system building into the inter-mountain west and that will push more air offshore across the southern edge of that high-pressure system. We could see those wind gusts in the 20-60 mile per hour range. It’s more than enough to cause the embers to jump from location to location. So, when you see a wildfire, it can jump as much as a couple of miles when these embers start to blow in the wind. It’s going to make wildfire containment somewhat difficult in coming days.”
The wildfires have forced the evacuation of more than 130,000 people. The Palisades Fire is currently 13% contained while the Eaton Fire is 27% contained.
Country music artists have joined together to help raise money for police officers in need!
Artists like Cody Johnson, Ronnie Dunn, Tracy Lawrence, ERNEST, Zach Top, The Malpass Brothers, and more autographed guitars which will be sold for $1,000 each. The funds will support The Wounded Blue, an organization that supports injured and disabled law enforcement officers.
Guitars are available for purchase HERE
