Fire Crews Vigilant As Santa Ana Winds Threaten To Stir Up Tick Fire

SANTA CLARITA (CBSLA) — The Tick Fire may be 70% contained, but fire crews aren't going anywhere.

They've been working tirelessly for days on end in Santa Clarita, trying to get a strong line around the burn area and hoping the intense winds expected late Sunday night won't reignite the flames.

"We had an opportunity last night to shore up and reinforce our containment lines with that break in the weather and rotate some fresh firefighters onto the line but now we're starting to see the wind pick up," said LA County Fire Department Captain Tony Imbrenda.

Hundreds of firefighters are ready to be deployed to the area should the winds stir the fire up. Many of them are trying to rest up whenever they can, knowing how fast wind driven fires can move.

"Wind-driven fires are by far the most dangerous and the deadliest because wind-driven fire can move faster than our resources can," said LA County Fire Inspector Sky Cornell.

Twenty two structures were destroyed and another 27 damaged in the Tick Fire, with thousands of acres burned in just hours. Entire communities were evacuated as flames overtook neighborhoods.

Imbrenda says they're not out of the woods just yet: "There's still a lot of open line out there, there's unburned vegetation around a lot of homes. Of course we had ten thousand homes out here and the majority of them were saved. So those homes are still there, they're still close to unburned vegetation."

Fire officials are asking residents to keep an eye out, and be prepared should the wind pick up any embers.

Several school districts, including LAUSD, William S. Hart, Saugus and Newhall have all announced school will be in session Monday. However, the Sulphur Springs Union School District still has some closures, including some which will last through the week. The District says it's notifying parents.