Southern California is about to get its first rain in months. Here’s what it means for the fires

After a day of strong winds that helped fuel small, scattered fires across Southern California, a reprieve from extreme fire danger may be in sight.

A small amount of rain is in the forecast beginning late Friday through early Saturday, a much-anticipated change of weather for the region, which has suffered through a prolonged dry spell that has fueled deadly and destructive fires.

Nevertheless, Southern California is not out of the woods yet when it comes to fire risk. On Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service extended its red flag warning — which had been scheduled to expire at 10 p.m. — until 8 p.m. Thursday due to an anticipated boost in wind coupled with persistent low humidity.

In Los Angeles County, where the Palisades and Eaton fires have carved a devastating path this month, under a third of an inch of rain is expected. Rain totals could, however, be slightly higher in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and other places, said Bryan Lewis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

“Obviously it’s going to be very welcome to get some sort of moisture here,” Lewis said. “In terms of ending the fire season, it’s probably not going to be enough for that. But it’ll certainly help a little bit.”

Although a smattering of rain would be beneficial for dry conditions, too much could trigger mudflows and landslides within burn scars.

“I normally pray for rain. God knows we generally need it,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes Pacific Palisades. “The burn scar of the Palisades fire not only sits feet from the ocean itself, but on hillsides that are already prone to slide and which have already absorbed a tremendous amount of water from firefighting, broken pipes and melted pools.”

“Adding water to this mess ... is the last thing we need,” Park said.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order to shore up burn areas and stem the flow of toxic debris in preparation for the incoming rain.

The city’s Public Works Department in the coming days will install barriers, remove debris and divert runoff from the stormwater system into the sewer system, where it can be treated.

“This is to prevent additional damage to areas already ravaged by fire and also to protect our watershed, beaches and ocean from toxic runoff,” Bass said during a news conference Tuesday.

Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the weather service, said the likelihood of heavy rainfall is low.

“I mean, it would have to be just, like, the worst of luck,” Wofford said. “First of all, we’d have to get some convection and it would have to form just in the right area.”

The rain would also have to fall at a rate much faster than expected for a landslide to occur. When intense rain falls quickly, the soil absorbs water rapidly and eventually reaches a saturation point where it can no longer hold moisture, triggering instability.

“If a quarter-inch fell in 30 seconds then, yes,” Wofford said of the potential for landslides. “But if it falls over hours then it’s definitely not an issue.”

As the region prepares for rain, the National Weather Service’s warning of a “particularly dangerous situation” with extreme wind gusts ended Tuesday morning for swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The notice marked the fifth time the weather service had sounded the alarm this season for acute fire conditions.

A red flag warning remains in effect until 8 p.m. Thursday, with winds expected to pick back up Wednesday afternoon, peak Thursday morning and ease by Thursday night, according to the weather service. A gust of 88 mph was recorded Monday morning in the western San Gabriel Mountains at Magic Mountain Truck Trail. Wind gusts hit 70 mph in the Santa Susana Mountains on Monday afternoon, Lewis said.

Dry conditions will persist with humidity levels below 10% until the rain over the weekend, according to the weather service.

Humidity levels in the Eaton fire area were 3% Tuesday morning, said James White, a meteorologist working the fire.

“It’s almost impossible to be drier than that,” he said.

A fire weather watch will remain in effect from Tuesday evening through Thursday evening with forecasters warning of Santa Ana winds and very low relative humidity for large parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Relative humidity levels are expected to remain low — between 5% to 10% — across most of the area in the coming days, White said.

Thousands of people across Southern California were without power on Tuesday as Southern California Edison instituted public safety power shutoffs, which aim to mitigate threats in areas where the utility’s equipment could be at a high risk of sparking a wildfire.

Roughly 9,200 SCE customers in Los Angeles County are without power, and another 45,800 customers are under consideration for such power shutoffs.

More than 9,300 SCE customers in Ventura County, 16,000 in San Bernardino County and 28,800 in Riverside County are also without power, the utility said Tuesday morning.

Without any significant rain in the Southland for months, the landscape remains primed for fire.

Firefighters across Southern California rushed to gain control of several small brush fires that broke out around the region. In Los Angeles, fires were reported in Griffith Park, Granada Hills and the Tujunga area. No homes were damaged and no evacuation orders were issued, said Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley.

“LAFD has had a very busy 24 hours,” Crowley said. “There were three additional brush fires fueled by high winds and dry vegetation within the city. I’m happy to report that all three fires were kept very small.”

Los Angeles police arrested a man after a small brush fire broke out in Griffith Park under the observatory on Monday. Police sources said the man was seen setting a fire in the area. No other details were available.

The fire was reported around 1 p.m. and had burned a quarter of an acre, according to LAFD.

In San Diego County, several fires were reported Tuesday.

One in Poway burned three acres before being stopped. The Pala fire in Fallbrook burned 17 acres before it was stopped, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The Lilac fire, which broke out near Old Highway 395 and Lilac Road in Bonsall at 1:19 a.m. Tuesday, has burned about 85 acres and forced evacuations. By mid-morning, Cal Fire reported that fire crews had stopped the forward spread of the fire, which was 30% contained.

Another brush fire broke out near the Fashion Valley mall in San Diego just after noon on Tuesday, briefly forcing the evacuation of nearby homes. Firefighters quickly got the blaze under control, but remained in the area mopping up hot spots, according to the San Diego Fire Department.

Meanwhile, crews that have been fighting two of the deadliest and most destructive fires California has seen in years continued to make progress.

The death toll in the fires rose to 28 on Tuesday — 11 people were killed in the Palisades fire and 17 died in the Eaton fire area, officials said.

But officials say that number is likely to continue to climb. There are still people who have been reported missing from the fire areas, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

On Tuesday, one such missing person was confirmed dead by the L.A. County medical examiner.

Edwin Cridland, 94, died in his Altadena home from smoke inhalation and burn injuries. He was last in contact with friends and family around 7:30 p.m on Jan. 7, the night the Eaton fire erupted.

The footprint of the Palisades fire remained at 23,713 acres with 65% containment Tuesday evening. The fire, which grew quickly in its first week amid extreme winds, has destroyed 6,380 structures, according to Cal Fire.

The Eaton fire remained at just over 14,000 acres while its containment jumped from 65% Friday to 89% as of Tuesday. The fire carved a devastating path through the Altadena and Pasadena areas, destroying 9,418 structures, according to Cal Fire.

The operation at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, which has been transformed into a makeshift city for the last two weeks for firefighters battling the Eaton fire, will begin to wind down this week. The 2,300 personnel and the camp mobilized to respond to the blaze will be phased out over the next week, officials said.

“It is moving into that recovery phase,” Cal Fire spokesperson Robert Foxworthy said.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors discussed the fires during a meeting Tuesday and emphasized the importance of securing state and federal aid to help rebuilding efforts, which could take years.

“The destruction is unbelievable. It has left communities completely leveled and not functional, potentially for a substantial period of time, as our firefighters continue their heroic efforts to complete containment of the Palisades and Eaton fires,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said. “We must be strategic and relentless in pursuing state and federal funding and support to quickly restore the communities that burned.”

Also on Tuesday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger asked the county to bring in an outside investigator to examine how the evacuations in Altadena were carried out.

While other areas of Altadena received evacuation warnings and orders shortly after the Eaton fire broke out, records reviewed by The Times show that Altadena neighborhoods west of North Lake Avenue did not get electronic evacuation orders until 3:25 a.m. and never received evacuation warnings.

By then, embers were raining down on neighborhoods on the west side of Altadena and igniting homes.

“I have deep concerns,” Barger said. “There has to be a thorough examination of life-saving emergency notifications that took place on that horrific evening. From what I have been told, it was a night of pure chaos for both fire and first responders and then for the community.”

Times staff writers Terry Castleman and Ian James contributed to this report.