Extreme heat raises wildfire fears; monsoonal moisture will create sticky conditions

Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times on Jul 15, 2026

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LOS ANGELES — With a heat wave expected to peak in Southern California on Wednesday, forecasters are warning of elevated fire risk.

Temperatures are forecast to be 10 to 17 degrees above normal, prompting heat advisories for most of the Los Angeles area, outside of coastal areas, said Mike Wofford, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. L.A. valleys are predicted to see triple-digit heat, with Woodland Hills expected to reach 105 to 110 degrees, he said.

Although above normal, temperatures will probably fall a few degrees short of breaking records, he added.

The heat will combine with a surge of monsoonal moisture to create sticky conditions, with humidity levels of 50% to 55% in downtown Los Angeles, Wofford said.

Still, vegetation is relatively dry as the region heads into its peak fire season, and any ignition could quickly take off, he said.

The weather service issued a red flag warning for L.A. County's I-5 corridor and the Ventura County mountains from Wednesday afternoon into Thursday morning, warning that strong winds and hot temperatures would combine to create the potential for critical fire weather conditions.

The warning also encompassed the Santa Barbara south coast and mountains, where sundowner winds could gust to 35 to 50 mph and bring temperatures into the 90s along the coast and the triple digits in the foothills, according to the weather service.

Amid concerns about fire risk, the Los Angeles County Fire Department pre-deployed 15 fire engines, four water tenders, four hand crews, two bulldozers and additional dispatch personnel, according to a news release from county Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

The Santa Barbara County Fire Department was working Tuesday to get approval from the state to augment staffing and pre-deploy resources, said Mike Gray, a public information officer.

Conditions are expected to cool off by 5 to 7 degrees on Thursday and then return to nearly normal by Friday, Wofford said.

Although it's unclear to what extent climate change is influencing this particular heat wave, scientists have found that global warming from the burning of fossil fuels is making Western heat waves more frequent, persistent, humid and lethal.