The evacuation orders were lifted on Friday evening in certain parts of southern California while firefighters fighting against canyon fire have made appropriate progress. The fire has burned around 5,400 acres and is currently 28%contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).
The evacuation orders, which affected thousands of residents of the County of Ventura and the County of Los Angeles, were demoted to warnings, which means that there is always a potential threat to life and goods.
The canyon fire burns in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles and spreads to the Castaic community in the county of.
The managers of the county of Ventura said on Friday that the firefighters made “good progress in the abolition of the fire, helped by favorable weather conditions and the continuous use of the aircraft fighting aircraft with repeated water and delaying falls to slow down the advance of the fire and support the ground teams.”
However, the fire remains an active threat and continues to spread more east in the county.
In an update published on Friday on X, the fire service of the County of Los Angeles said that three firefighters had undergone minor injuries while fighting fire and had been taken to a local hospital “by abundance of prudence”, but had to recover completely.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District has published forest smoke opinions for certain parts of the county of the, in particular along the corridor I-5 near Lake Castaic. Air quality problems should linger until Sunday morning, according to the agency, which monitors air quality conditions for a large part of the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino.
Air pollution from forest smoke is a significant concern because it contains small particles which are less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter – approximately 4% of the diameter of an average wick of human hair. This type of air pollution is dangerous because the particles are small enough to deeply reach inside the lungs, which can exacerbate or increase the risk of asthma, lung cancer and other chronic pulmonary diseases.
The canyon fire ignited Thursday afternoon near Holster Canyon and quickly spread, engulfing more than 1,500 acres in several hours.
The fire is one of the many major fires that are currently burning in California, including the huge fire of Gifford which fled on August 1 in the National Forest of Los Padres. This fire has consumed more than 100,000 acres and remains only 21% content, according to Cal Fire.
