Red Flag Warning Extended: Critical Fire Threat Continues In San Diego County

SAN DIEGO, CA — The National Weather Service extended a red flag warning for parts of San Diego County as critical fire weather conditions continue in the region.

A red flag warning was extended until 10 a.m. Friday for the county's inland valleys and mountains, according to the NWS.

Northeast winds are expected to reach 30 to 40 mph, with gusts up to 60 to 70 mph. Isolated gusts are expected up to 70 to 80 mph for the mountains.

The strongest winds are expected from after sunrise Thursday morning into the afternoon with winds diminishing for tonight into Friday morning., according to the NWS. Humidity is expected to be mostly 5% or less Thursday.

"If fire ignition occurs, conditions are favorable for rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior," the NWS said. "Fuels are critically dry."

Public safety power shutoffs began Monday, with SDG&E cutting power to hundreds of customers in an effort to reduce wildfire risk.

While power was restored to some areas where conditions improved on Wednesday, some residents remained without power overnight due to continued high fire risk conditions and other residents had their power turned back off Thursday morning.

As of 9 a.m. Thursday, 12,140 SDG&E customers were without power in communities across the county in an effort to reduce wildfire risk. A total of 71,485 additional customers could be affected by the outages.

SDG&E opened community resource centers to assist affected communities. Centers have wi-fi and charging stations for phone and medical devices.

In addition to a red flag warning, a high wind warning will be in effect until 6 p.m. Thursday for the mountains and valleys. Forecasters said damaging winds could blow down trees and power lines. Travel could be difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles.

"Gusty northeast winds will continue through the morning and slowly weaken into the afternoon," NWS San Diego forecasters wrote Thursday. "So far peak gusts have been in the 70 to 80 mph range. Hauser Mountain in San Diego County gusted to 77 mph and Freemont Canyon in the Santa Ana mountains gusted to 75 mph. The one outlier is Sill Hill a very wind prone location in the San Diego mountains, which has gusted to 91 mph today."