Fire crews urge Californians to stay vigilant as winds increase again

AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reported live from Malibu on Jan. 14 as the wildfire threat ramped up once again in Southern California.

Transcript

00:00And bill joins us live from Malibu, California

00:02Firefighters are concerned about gusty winds

00:05Ramping back up tonight over the next 20 next 12 hours, especially bill

00:11Yeah, that's right Jeffrey good afternoon to you light winds down here along the Pacific Coast Highway right now at least on this stretch

00:18We've seen gusts 10 15 to 20 miles an hour at times and wind gusts reported 40 to 50 mile an hour range up in the mountains

00:26Fire crews keeping a very close eye on this situation because if we see the wind direction make a little bit more of

00:33Change to the northeast that's when we're we can see that full effect of the Santa Ana winds being amplified

00:38But those winds just racing through the canyons down the mountains

00:43Tough situation to see here in Malibu

00:45These are just some of the multi-million dollar homes right along the Pacific Coast Highway that were destroyed by last week's fast-moving

00:53Wind-driven infernos and over on this side

00:55Well, the fire crews are up in the mountains working on the containment lines keeping a close eye on the wind situation

01:03Utility trucks most of them have actually just passed by now

01:06But these crews are basically taking out the large utility poles. They're doing damage assessments

01:12What to do with all of these downed power lines amid the damage where to start the repairs first

01:17So there's a lot of work going on here on both ends both containing these fires

01:20but also starting the very slow and complicated process of cleaning up this mess, but

01:27Bree and Jeff the one thing the firefighters have been telling us. They don't want people to let their guard down this afternoon

01:33Yes, we've got clear blue skies. It feels like a beautiful afternoon here in Malibu, but we could feel the wind picking up

01:39We're starting to see some more ash blowing around and we know it just takes a matter of moments for the wind speeds to kick

01:45Change direction a few embers carried and we could have a very dangerous situation unfolding

01:51So that's why people in this area are being urged to stay vigilant

01:55Stay prepared have those go bags ready as you can imagine a lot of nerves for people here waiting this next 12 to 24 hours

02:03Knowing the threat with the wind and the potential that these fires could spread or possibly we could even see new fire spark

02:10All right, we appreciate your reporting there bill a lot of concerns just west of there and for Bill Waddell with the latest on the California

02:17wildfires