Crews deployed in case fires return

U.S. Forest Service firefighting managers, worried about forecast Santa Ana winds kicking up another round of wildfires later this week, have begun to move aircraft, fire engines and personnel into battle positions and even ordered some firefighters to scrap Thanksgiving plans.

But the National Weather Service on Saturday said the hot, dry offshore winds initially forecast to begin Tuesday will be milder than expected, if they show at all.

“Four days ago, it looked like it was going to be gangbusters,” said Bill Hoffer of the weather service office in Oxnard. “But it’s slacked off quite a bit.”

The high-pressure zone moving onshore that triggers such winds has weakened, he said. Its strength is being sapped by a major stormy low-pressure front farther up the West Coast in British Columbia.

Acting on last week’s forecast, the Forest Service began to beef up its standing complement of Southern California-positioned firefighters with 15 additional hand crews, 75 additional fire engines, 13 helicopters and eight airplanes that drop water or fire retardant.

“By Monday afternoon all of our additional resources will be in place,” said Ed Hollenshead, director of fire and aviation management for the Pacific Southwest region. With the help of state and local firefighters, he said, “we [should] have ample resources to quickly respond to any new fires as soon as they start.”

The extra equipment and reinforcements will be shared by four national forests in Southern California and positioned strategically at various airfields. Two C-130 aircraft from an Air National Guard base in Cheyenne, Wyo., and two from the Air Force Reserves at Colorado Springs, Colo., are expected to land by noon Monday at the Channel Islands Air National Guard Base near Point Mugu.

“We would rather put assets in place in case we are requested to support initial firefighting efforts than scramble to get there,” said Gen. Gene Renuart of the U.S. Northern Command.

The Cleveland National Forest has gone so far as to order firefighters and administrative staff to scrap their Thanksgiving holiday plans and report to work Thursday. “If for some great reason it changes next week, things may go back to normal,” said spokeswoman Anabele Cornejo. “But we’re on high alert, and residents should be too, because a lot of areas haven’t burned.”

The region can expect light offshore breezes beginning Tuesday, said meteorologist Jennifer Chase of the National Weather Servic office in San Diego. “It will be drier and warmer, but it shouldn’t be like it was with the last round of fires. The wind will be light. If it does get strong, it won’t happen until Friday.”

She said she doesn’t expect a returning fury of winds to spoil Southern California’s holiday plans.

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Times staff writer Janet Wilson contributed to this report.