High winds, hot temperatures and dry air continued to fuel a major wildfire in northern Los Angeles County on Monday that surpassed 15,000 acres burned to become the state’s largest blaze of the year.
The Post fire, burning mostly dry grasses and brush in the Gorman area south of the Tejon Pass, was just 8% contained Monday morning, said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesperson Craig Little.
“It’s a safe bet that it’s going to grow to be larger at this point,” Little said. “The winds may let up, but it’s going to be higher temperatures and lower humidity.”
Wind gusts near the Post fire reached 60 to 65 mph Sunday night, and while the winds were expected to weaken considerably during the day Monday — to about 40 mph — they are likely to increase again at night, said Ariel Cohen, National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard. High temperatures near the fire were forecast to hit the high 80s Monday with low relative humidity, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
“Conditions have continued to support the rapid spread of the wildfire,” Cohen said. Red flag warnings — alerts for dangerous fire conditions — were in effect for the area through at least Tuesday evening, with relative humidity expected to drop into the single digits Tuesday, the weather service warned.
Such severe warnings had also been issued across large swaths of inland California, with the alerts forecasting winds that carry “the potential for rapid fire spread,” from the northern Sacramento Valley through the Antelope Valley.
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