They’re not out of the woods.
Powerful winds are expected to return to the wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles area early next week — fanning flames and potentially sparking new blazes, meteorologists warned Friday.
“You can’t let your guard down,” FOX Weather meteorologist Cody Braud told The Post. “This is a wind event that could really exacerbate the problem.”
Hurricane-strength Santa Ana winds that caused raging wildfires to rapidly rip through the area this week had died down to just 10 mph as of Friday — but will likely grow strong again starting Monday night, he said.
The wind gusts are expected to hit a high of 70 mph Tuesday, blowing from the northeast — making it harder for firefighters to battle the Palisades and Eaton blazes.
“It has the potential to fan out existing fires and start new ones,” Braud said. “It could have an impact on those who are fighting the fires and cause a threat of additional fires.”
Embattled LA Mayor Karen Bass — who caught heat this week for the city’s apparent lack of wildfire preparation and slow response time — vowed Friday morning to “do everything we can” to prepare for the fire-fueling weather.
“We know that we’re going to have a possible increase in the force of the winds at the beginning of next week and we’re getting Los Angeles prepared, doing everything we can to save lives, that is our number one job to protect people’s homes, to protect people’s businesses and to prepare to rebuild Los Angeles in a much better way,” she said at a press conference.
Bass didn’t say what the city is specifically doing to prepare, and her office didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s questions about the plan Friday.
Roughly 8% of the Palisades Fire had been contained Friday afternoon, meaning a “control line” or parameter had been placed around that much of the blaze to stop it from spreading. Meanwhile, 3% of the Eaton fire had been contained.
Containment is related to the fire’s likelihood to spread, rather than how much of it has been put out.
Fires raging across Los Angeles have killed at least 10 people and put 150,000 people under evacuation orders. Roughly 10,000 structures were estimated to have been destroyed.
When the wind is too high, it’s difficult for firefighters to take off in airplanes used to contain the wildfires — one reason why the blazes initially spread so rapidly earlier this week, forecasters said.
Last Tuesday, the day the Palisades and Eaton wildfires broke out, wind gusts reached up to 100 mph.
The wind is expected to weaken to roughly 10 mph by next Thursday, Braun said.
