SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Three large wildfires are destroying homes and lives in Los Angeles County as Santa Ana winds fuel fire danger across Southern California.
Some of the gusts near the LA fires have been as strong as 100 miles per hour, pushing the flames at an alarming rate.
You'll find team coverage from ABC 10News in this edition of the Wake Up Call newsletter as we help you prepare for the heightened fire risk blowing into San Diego County this week.
TODAY'S TOP STORY:
San Diego Gas & Electric has already taken steps to limit fire damage in high-risk areas impacted by the Santa Ana winds.
It shut off power to more than 6,000 customers overnight, and that number is expected to grow Wednesday.
You can see the specific areas where the public safety power shutoffs are already active on the SDGE website.
There's a potential for more than 64,000 customers to have their power cut off, according to the utility company.
Several East County school districts canceled classes Wednesday in anticipation of the high winds and power outages, including:
- Julian Union Elementary School District
- Julian Union High School District
- Mountain Empire Unified School District
- Ramona Unified School District
- Spencer Valley School District
- Warner Unified School District
ABC 10News reporter Adam Campos was live in Ramona Wednesday morning to break down the power shutoffs:
MICROCLIMATE FORECASTS:
Coasts
Inland
Mountains
Deserts
BREAKING OVERNIGHT
LOS ANGELES (AP)— California firefighters battled wind-whipped wildfires that tore across the Los Angeles area, destroying homes, clogging roadways as tens of thousands fled and straining resources as the fires burned uncontained early Wednesday.
By early Wednesday, the Eaton fire, which started around 6:30 p.m. the day before, had quickly burned 1.6 square miles (4 square kilometers), according to fire officials. The Hurst fire jumped to 500 acres (202 hectares) and the Palisades fire, which started around around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and sent up a dramatic plume of smoke visible across Los Angeles, had destroyed 4.5 square miles (11.6 square kilometers) according to Angeles National Forest. The fires were at 0% containment as of early Wednesday.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 200,000 people were without power in Los Angeles County, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us, due to the strong winds.
See the destruction LA residents evacuated from:
Read the full story from the Associated Press here.
CONSUMER:
The impact of wildfires on home insurance is something ABC 10News has been covering for years. Companies like State Farm and Allstate say the fire danger makes it too expensive to do business in California, and they're not renewing policies.
The state is stepping in to help people get back the coverage they've lost.
State leaders recently passed a rule that will require insurers to offer coverage in high-risk fire areas, something the state hasn't done before.
However, these homeowners will have higher premiums.
A state agency must approve the new rule before it becomes law. Some consumer groups oppose the change, saying it could drive up the price of everyone's insurance by up by 40%, and Consumer Watchdog called the rule a "power grab."
See ABC 10News reporter Dani Miskell's recent report on the topic below:
- PREVIOUS COVERAGE: ‘There’s a real crunch’: The home insurance headache hitting California
WE FOLLOW THROUGH:
Farther east, it's deja vu for residents of a mobile home park in Boulevard as they prepared to have their power shut off for the second time in a month. ABC 10News has covered this issue countless times, and we're committed to following through.
As anchor Aaron Dickens explained, these people were impacted during the last windstorm.
Watch Dickens' full report below:
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