LOS ANGELES (AP) — Large swaths of California are expected to see fire weather starting Thursday and thousands of people could lose power as utilities try not to spark wildfires during hot and windy conditions expected to last through Saturday.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who has faced criticism for her city's response to deadly fires in 2025, said she's directed the fire department to deploy personnel and equipment ahead of the winds. The fire department has also requested assistance from the state’s office of emergency services, she said.
Click to Gallery
FILE - Residences leveled by a wildfire in Paradise, Calif., are seen on Nov. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
FILE - Water is dropped by helicopter on the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent, File)
FILE - The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)
FILE - Flags fly under heavy winds before sunset as a plume of smoke from the Franklin Fire rises over the ocean Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes,File)
“It’s a pretty widespread event of elevated fire weather, so the whole SoCal region should really be on alert,” said Rose Schoenfeld, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Dry, warm and gusty northeast winds known as Santa Anas, which blow from the interior of Southern California toward the coast and offshore, are expected, with the strongest winds forecast for Thursday afternoon through Friday afternoon.
The winds are expected to reach 20 to 40 mph (32 to 64 kph), with gusts from 50 to 70 mph (80 to 113 kph), in the San Gabriel mountains in Los Angeles County and the Santa Susana mountains, which are mostly in Ventura County, Schoenfeld said. Elevated, though brief, critical fire weather conditions are also forecast for portions of the Santa Lucia mountains in San Luis Obispo County.
Dangerous conditions began earlier in Northern California, with some communities in the Sierra Nevada and its foothills experiencing strong winds, high temperatures and low humidity starting Wednesday night, the National Weather Service said.
The service issued a Red Flag Warning for parts of central and Northern California starting Thursday and lasting through Friday morning, saying that any fires would spread rapidly. Such warnings are issued when weather conditions create an increased risk of wildfires.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company had notified 88,000 customers in 29 counties that it may need to proactively turn power off to reduce the risk of winds toppling over energized power lines that could start a fire. The planned shutoffs had started for some customers by Wednesday night.
The potential interruption in service to customers from the Central Coast to the upper corners of the Sierra Nevada could last through Saturday afternoon, the company said.
In Southern California, the Red Flag Warning for the mountainous areas in Ventura and Los Angeles counties will be in effect from Thursday morning through Friday night.
“We are augmenting our staffing, positioning our people and pre-deploying equipment ahead of this weather so we are ready before the first call comes in," Los Angeles Fire Chief Jaime Moore said. “We are asking residents to do their part, too. Clear the streets, have a plan and stay informed.”
In January 2025, the Palisades Fire — fanned by Santa Ana winds — ripped through a hillside Los Angeles neighborhood, killing 12 people and destroying mansions with spectacular ocean views. Another fire that burned at the same time in the city of Altadena, in Los Angeles County, killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 homes and businesses.
Schoenfeld said the Santa Ana winds are not going to be as strong as during those fires, when they were gusting 60 to 100 mph (96 to 160 kph).
Authorities determined the Palisades Fire was a carryover fire from the Lachman Fire. The Eaton Fire was caused by sparks from an idle transmission tower owned by Southern California Edison, officials said.
Southern California Edison’s online dashboard on Wednesday showed it was considering public safety shutoffs that could affect 245,000 customers in Kern, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties. Most of those customers — 124,000 — are in Ventura County, just north of Los Angeles.
FILE - Residences leveled by a wildfire in Paradise, Calif., are seen on Nov. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
FILE - Water is dropped by helicopter on the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent, File)
FILE - The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)
FILE - Flags fly under heavy winds before sunset as a plume of smoke from the Franklin Fire rises over the ocean Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes,File)
ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) — Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff faced angry members of the school’s faculty Wednesday at a meeting that underscored deep frustration over his administration’s handling of a woman’s report that she was gang raped at a fraternity house in 2024.
Kotlikoff acknowledged some missteps, but also defended his leadership as he took questions from the university's Faculty Senate before it debated a no-confidence resolution in his administration.
The meeting was closed to the media, but in an audio recording obtained by The Associated Press, Kotlikoff asked for more time to implement reforms and push for cultural changes in student social life.
He insisted experienced leadership was necessary to confront problems “that are not simplistic, they’re not easy, they can’t be brushed aside with a wave of a hand.”
Replacing a president isn’t the right way to address the situation and would harm Cornell’s reputation, Kotlikoff said.
Kotlikoff also left open the possibility of sweeping restrictions on Greek life, saying Cornell needed to determine whether fraternities could operate safely. On Tuesday, Kotlikoff announced a ban on fraternity parties through the end of the academic year.
“If, at the end of the day, fraternities cannot exist in a safe environment and we can’t be convinced that they can be safe, then we should make that decision,” he said, adding that the university should rely on research and evidence rather than emotion.
After Kotlikoff departed, a string of faculty speakers said they had lost confidence in the administration's ability to combat sexual assault on campus.
“The faculty were extremely angry. They gave him a hard time, I think appropriately so,” said Richard Bensel, a professor of government.
Some Faculty Senate members warned that a hasty no-confidence vote would do little to address the underlying problems.
Debate was expected to continue Oct. 28, followed by electronic voting.
A no-confidence vote by the faculty would be largely symbolic, but could send a message to the university's trustees, who ultimately decide how the university is run and who leads it.
A woman identified in court documents by the pseudonym Jane Doe filed a lawsuit last month alleging that seven Chi Phi fraternity members sexually assaulted or exploited her in October 2024 and that Cornell mishandled her complaints.
All of those men have denied her allegations, saying either that their interactions were consensual or that they weren't involved.
The criminal investigation by Cornell's police department stalled after the local district attorney quickly decided that no crime had occurred.
At the time, Kotlikoff publicly addressed what he called “deeply disturbing” allegations, suspended the fraternity and said criminal and university investigations were underway. He subsequently convened a presidential task force to examine how Cornell handles sexual assault.
But in an interview with The New York Times published Tuesday, Kotlikoff said he never followed up to learn what had happened to the woman or the criminal investigation.
Asked by a faculty member whether he read the Cornell Police Department's report on the rape allegations, Kotlikoff acknowledged that he had not, but said that was because the police investigation was confidential and university policy is that top administrators shouldn’t have a role in criminal investigations.
“I really reject the idea that I had no interest in it or was not concerned about it," Kotlikoff said.
Kotlikoff denied that he wasn't aware that students had been expelled or suspended as a result of the university's Title IX investigation, but acknowledged that, until recently, he didn't know the woman had dropped out of Cornell.
“The institution is split in significant ways,” said Grant Farred, professor of Africana Studies and English, describing those in the humanities as feeling they had enough information to proceed while those in the sciences wanted more data.
Iris Packman, a research and policy expert at Cornell’s Climate Jobs Institute, said she felt Kotlikoff got “defensive.”
Labor history professor Paul Ortiz, lead sponsor of the no-confidence resolution, said the debate was animated by the perception that the administration wasn't doing enough to address “a perpetual ongoing crisis.”
Anne Marie Brady, a senior extension associate at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said she welcomed Kotlikoff’s recent announcement that state police, rather than campus police, will temporarily handle investigations of sexual assaults, but she questioned the timing, a day before the Senate debate.
For Ariana Kim, an associate music professor at Cornell, Kotlikoff’s acknowledgment that he had not followed up on the woman’s case was “appalling.”
A Grammy-nominated violinist, Kim told The Associated Press that when she first started at Cornell a decade ago, she experienced bullying and sexual harassment by senior colleagues. Cornell, she said, failed to properly document her complaints and never clearly informed her of what disciplinary action, if any, had been taken.
“I was asked what I had done to provoke the situation,” she said.
Kim said her efforts to avoid colleagues who had harassed her later became a point of criticism during her tenure review. In one instance, a professor cited her unwillingness to accept his advice and her avoidance of him when he voted against granting her tenure.
Kotlikoff became the university’s interim president in July 2024 and took the job permanently last year.
He's faced challenges including a dining and custodial workers strike, ire over his decision last year to pay $60 million to settle Trump administration civil rights investigations, and accusations from activists that his administration stifled campus protests.
—-
Willingham reported from Boston.
Students walk through Cornell University's campus, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Ithaca, N.Y. (AP Photo/Matt Burkhartt)
Demonstrators march from the Washington Monument to the White House during a "Stop Sexual Violence" protest in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Demonstrators march from the Washington Monument to the White House during a "Stop Sexual Violence" protest in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
