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The hot winds combined with the tinder dry brush after months of light rainfall to create conditions that were just right for fires. "The perfect storm," Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger called it, a soundbite carried by CBS' Bill Whitaker and ABC's Ryan Owens. Above the mansions of Malibu, NBC's Lester Holt reflected on the conditions in a question to a firefighter: "A perfect storm?" "Pretty much." Holt elaborated: Los Angeles has received just three inches of rainfall so far this year--compared with its normal twelve--and "a dry weather pattern called La Nina, which surfaces every few years, is now making its comeback."
ABC's Neal Karlinsky was also on that Malibu ridge, where he felt "the winds continue to move around in a circle, almost, and move this fire back on itself." As he drove down the mountain, the fire jumped across the canyon road: his cameraman kept the video rolling as he drove through flames. CBS' Whitaker showed us the ruins of the landmark Malibu Castle that overlooks the Pacific Ocean: the owner "was able to save a bit of precious memorabilia…the army fatigues once worn by Elvis Presley."
The fires were closest to the population centers of San Diego County, where an evacuation order displaced a quarter of a million residents. To the east, Ramona, population 36,000, was surrounded by flames, ABC's Owens pointed out: its residents "are not just worried about losing their homes but their entire town." The fire cut off I-15, the county's main north-south artery, when it jumped over the freeway, noted NBC's George Lewis. Many evacuees took refuge in the home of the city's NFL Chargers, Qualcomm Stadium capacity 65,000.
All three networks offered a primer on the Santa Ana. The prevailing winds in southern California, CBS' John Blackstone explained, "blow in off the ocean bringing the cool moist air and a usually pleasant climate. The Santa Anas reverse that usual pattern." When a low pressure settles over the water and a high pressure over the desert, "masses of hot dry air flow toward the Pacific," ABC's Brain Rooney (subscription required) detailed. "The situation is aggravated when the wind is forced through southern California's mountain canyons, creating a kind of wind tunnel effect." NBC anchor Brian Williams consulted Fritz Coleman, the meteorologist for its Los Angeles station KNBC-TV. He observed that the "wind tunnel effect" create speeds of at least 70 mph, with the air "dried out, with relative humidity as low as 4%, the air actually devoid of moisture and you get temperatures…tomorrow at 100F."
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