LOS ANGELES, CA – A Red Flag Warning for the mountains and foothills of Los Angeles and Ventura counties takes effect at 6 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, as state, county and city agencies move crews and equipment into position nearly 21 months after the Eaton and Palisades fires, according to the National Weather Service.
The Weather Service’s Red Flag Warning product, issued at 3:37 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, covers the mountains and foothills of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. In Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the warning remains in effect until 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16.
Forecasters call for northeast to east winds of 20 to 40 mph with gusts of 50 to 70 mph, strongest from Thursday afternoon through Friday afternoon. Humidity minimums of 8 to 20 percent are common, and the product states that if a fire ignites, “conditions are favorable for extreme fire behavior which would threaten life and property.”
“There’s a high risk for any new fires to grow really fast,” said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Oxnard.
The Eaton and Palisades fires of January 2025 killed 31 people. Every agency now preparing for the wind event has been the subject of a review of how it performed in those fires.
State moves firefighters into Southern California
Gov. Gavin Newsom directed CAL FIRE and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services on Oct. 14 to preposition additional resources and put the State Operations Center on enhanced readiness, according to a statement from the Governor’s Office. The statement said Cal OES resources begin deploying Thursday morning and remain in place through Sunday, Oct. 18.
“By positioning firefighters, engines, aircraft and specialized equipment in areas facing the greatest risk, we are helping local fire departments respond quickly when every second counts,” the statement said. CAL FIRE is also positioning engine strike teams across Southern California.
The statement also said State Parks and its partners apply a park closure protocol in the Santa Monica Mountains during Red Flag warnings.
Resources assigned county by county
Cal OES listed the specific equipment in its announcement of the prepositioning. In Los Angeles City and County, the state is placing 10 fire engines, two bulldozers, two water tenders, two hand crews, two helicopters and 85 firefighters and support personnel.
Ventura County is receiving five engines, two bulldozers, one water tender, one hand crew, one helicopter and 50 firefighters and support personnel. Orange County is getting five engines, one bulldozer, one water tender, one hand crew, one helicopter and 45 firefighters and support personnel.
Santa Barbara County is getting one helicopter and four firefighters and support personnel.
County fire department adds personnel and opens its operations center
The Los Angeles County Fire Department pre-positioned additional personnel plus ground and aerial resources across the county, Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said in a county news release issued Oct. 14. Department spokesperson Pauline McGee said the department is adding roughly 100 personnel on Thursday and Friday.
The release said the County’s Emergency Operations Center and the Joint Information Center activate Thursday morning. It also said gusts of 50 to 70 mph are forecast in mountain areas.
“With strong winds capable of driving rapid wildfire growth, we urge residents to prepare immediately,” the release said. Sheriff Robert Luna and Kevin McGowan, director of the county Office of Emergency Management, are also quoted in it.
Bass directs LAFD to predeploy
Mayor Karen Bass directed the Los Angeles Fire Department to predeploy personnel and equipment, according to a city announcement. “I am in constant communication with Chief Moore, and LAFD resources are being predeployed strategically to keep Angelenos and our hillside communities safe,” Bass said, referring to Fire Chief Jaime Moore.
The mayor said LAFD asked Cal OES for additional help. She urged residents to sign up for NotifyLA alerts and to check the department’s alert page.
LAFD red flag parking restrictions in the city’s very high fire hazard areas were set to begin at 6 a.m. Thursday.
City cites full water tanks and completed recommendations
A spokesperson for the mayor said all Department of Water and Power tanks serving hillside areas are full and all open-air reservoirs remain available for firefighting. The spokesperson said the city has no concerns about water pressure in the hydrant system.
The spokesperson also said Moore has implemented more than 90% of the recommendations in the department’s own review of the Palisades fire and is working on changes from the independent report commissioned by the governor. Bass has said that 92 percent of those internal recommendations have been carried out.
City officials said the changes include more wildfire drills, additional training on the incident command system, more evacuation planning and earlier briefings and tactical meetings to improve pre-deployment.
What the January 2025 fire reviews examined
The department’s fact sheet on its Palisades Fire After-Action Review Report summarizes the LAFD’s own examination of that fire. Reviews of the fires have criticized the pre-staging of resources, including in Pacific Palisades, where no engines were deployed ahead of the fire’s start despite warnings of extreme weather.
The county took a separate look at warnings and evacuations. The McChrystal Group review commissioned by the Board of Supervisors found weaknesses including outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities, according to the county’s Sept. 25, 2025 release. It did not identify a single point of failure.
The release said that “frontline responders acted decisively and, in many cases, heroically, in the face of extraordinary conditions,” but that the events underscored the need for clearer policies, stronger training, integrated tools and improved public communication.
The county hosts the reviews on its after-action reports page. It lists a second review of recovery and repopulation that identified 26 substantive findings and 25 actionable recommendations, and a Citygate Associates investigation of Eaton fire evacuation alerts.
October report and the supervisors’ review
The wind event also follows the Oct. 2 release of a 724-page independent report commissioned by the Governor’s Office, which contains 175 findings and 266 recommendations. The Fire Safety Research Institute, part of UL Research Institutes, produced it. Bass has said its findings confirm much of what officials already knew.
On Oct. 6, the Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath directing County Counsel to work with the Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management, Sheriff’s Department and Public Works to analyze the report’s findings, according to a statement from Barger’s office. The motion compares the report with the two McChrystal Group reviews and the Citygate Associates investigation.
“We cannot change what happened on January 7, but we have an obligation to learn from it, and I will keep pressing until those lessons become real improvements,” Barger said in the statement.
Edison weighs power shutoffs for up to 245,700 customers
Southern California Edison said it was considering public safety power shutoffs for up to 245,700 customers in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern and Tulare counties. About 90,000 of those customers are in Los Angeles County. The utility had made no decision as of its Oct. 14 notice.
By de-energizing power lines, utilities aim to lessen the chance that an electrical spark is carried by high winds into a fire. Edison said restoration typically takes up to eight hours.
The county release also told residents to prepare for utility-initiated shutoffs and for unplanned outages caused by wind damage.
Brush fire in Brentwood before the warning
The Los Angeles Fire Department stopped the forward progress of a 1.5-acre brush fire in Brentwood by 4 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, according to initial reports. That fire burned before the Red Flag Warning took effect.
Residents urged to prepare
The county release listed the county’s alert, readiness and evacuation-zone sites as the places for residents to sign up for emergency notifications and check their evacuation zones. Los Angeles city officials point residents to NotifyLA and the fire department’s alert page.
Warning remains in effect through Friday night
The Red Flag Warning stays in effect until 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, and Cal OES resources remain deployed through Oct. 18. Edison had not announced whether it would shut off power, and the Board of Supervisors’ analysis of the independent report remains pending.
