Santa Ana Winds Sweep Fire Over 125 Acres of Canyon Land

A wind-whipped brush fire swept across 125 acres of canyon land in the Santa Clarita Valley on Wednesday, threatening homes, commercial structures and a preschool before being brought under control.

Fire officials said the blaze apparently started about 11:15 a.m. when dry Santa Ana winds gusting up to 20 m.p.h. downed a power line near Bouquet Canyon Road and Shadow Valley Lane.

Spreading rapidly south, the flames reached within a few yards of homes on Nicholas Circle Drive before 150 Los Angeles County firefighters controlled the blaze with back fires about 1:45 p.m.

In Orange County, winds were relatively mild after Tuesday night’s gusts to 30 m.p.h. Rick Dittmann, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said winds will be calmer today in Orange County, after overnight lows that could dip into the 30s in some inland valley areas.

Winds probably will get up to 20 m.p.h. in the county’s canyon areas and should decrease by Friday, he said.

Wednesday’s high was 77 in Santa Ana. Today’s expected high will be in the 70s to low 80s.

Humidity was a low 9% Wednesday, and it’s not expected to rise to the teens today, making for “very dry lip balm” weather, Dittmann said.

Dan Bowman, also with WeatherData Inc., said Wednesday’s warm, breezy weather resulted from a situation that is familiar at this time of year: a large high-pressure system over northern Nevada and a low-pressure system off the southern tip of Baja California.

Winds from the high-pressure system flow toward the lower pressure off the coast, warming and drying out by compression as they spill down the coastal canyons surrounding the Los Angeles Basin.