WILD! A woman was inside her minivan in traffic when a massive tree came crashing down on her in Santa Clarita. The van was traveling north on McBean Parkway near Magic Mountain Parkway around 12:40 p.m. when the tree toppled onto it amid strong Santa Ana winds. The woman was injured but got out and made it to an ambulance, a witness said. Witness Christian and his father were about 100 feet away when they heard the tree fall. “It was like a loud crack,” he said. “The concrete rumbled. We felt it.” “I was telling my dad, ‘Man, it’s windy. I really hope a tree doesn’t fall,’” witness Christian said. “Five seconds later, that tree actually fell.” @LACOFD camp crews were cutting up the tree at the scene. The National Weather Service warned of damaging winds, with gusts of 50–70 mph possible in wind-prone areas. @NWSLosAngeles warned that gusts of 50 to 70 mph were possible in wind-prone areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, including the Interstate 5 corridor. The agency warned that damaging winds could topple trees and power lines. This shows you just how strong these winds are.

If you're looking for a heartwarming story, look no further. At the Old Town Newhall Farmers Market, Louie Diaz sells his handcrafted cutting boards. But there's something about the man behind the boards that most customers would never know. Louie is completely blind. Inside his family's garage in Castaic, Louie transforms ordinary pieces of lumber into beautiful cutting boards, using specially adapted tools and techniques he's developed over years of woodworking. After losing his sight at just two years old, Louie never let blindness define what he could accomplish.

Firefighters quickly contained a small brush fire that burned along Interstate 5 north of Castaic this morning. The Baker Fire was first reported at about 11:43 a.m. near the southbound lanes of the I-5, north of Lake Hughes Road and west of Ridge Route Road. The fire burned uphill through medium brush at a slow rate of spread, reaching approximately two acres. At one point, firefighters estimated the blaze had the potential to grow to 50 acres within an hour. Los Angeles County Fire Department Air Operations Copter 20, formerly designated Copter 15, landed along Ridge Route Road to insert a firefighting camp crew near the top of the fire as ground crews worked from below. Firefighters from @LACOFD and @Angeles_NF stopped forward progress at two acres shortly after noon, allowing additional responding aircraft to be canceled. The fire was declared controlled by incident command around 12:56 p.m., and all remaining units were released. Copter 20 later returned to Ridge Route Road, picked up the camp crew and departed the area. The cause of the Baker Fire remains under investigation.

A fast-moving brush fire north of Santa Clarita grew to 1,000 acres today and continues to burn with no containment, prompting evacuations in areas surrounding Bouquet Canyon near the Bouquet Reservoir. The Bouquet Fire was first reported shortly after 2:30 p.m. in the 34800 block of Bouquet Canyon Road in the Angeles National Forest. The fire quickly spread through surrounding brush, growing to about 100 acres shortly after 3 p.m. and more than 700 acres before 5 p.m. By 7 p.m., the U.S. Forest Service reported the fire had grown to approximately 1,000 acres and remained 0% contained. Containment refers to the percentage of a fire's perimeter that firefighters have established control lines around and believe is unlikely to spread beyond. A fire being 0% contained does not mean firefighters are not actively battling the flames, but rather that crews have not yet established a secure control line around any measurable portion of its perimeter. The fire continues to actively burn Saturday night as firefighters work from the ground and air. Multiple night-flying helicopters have been assigned to continue water drops after air tankers were released or placed on hold as darkness and hazardous terrain limited fixed-wing operations. Earlier in the afternoon, shifting winds pushed the fire toward structures along Bouquet Canyon Road, prompting evacuations in surrounding areas near the Bouquet Reservoir. Crews also reported two spot fires outside the main fire perimeter as additional engines and firefighters were called to the incident.
 The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Bomb Squad was also requested to the area where the fire originated to inspect reports of possible unexploded ordnance. It was not immediately clear what was found or whether the suspected ordnance had any connection to the cause of the fire. Bouquet Canyon Road remains closed at Vasquez Canyon Road for an unknown duration. The cause of the Bouquet Fire remains under investigation.

Well, it’s official. Gas in Los Angeles, California has reached $8 a gallon for premium.

Hundreds gathered at St. John Eudes Parish in Chatsworth Thursday night for a candlelight vigil honoring five people killed in a series of tragic crashes two days earlier. Families, friends and neighbors came together to remember Gage Weida and Daniel Castillo, who were killed Tuesday when a suspected DUI driver slammed into a Metro bus, as well as @NBCLA NewsChopper4 photojournalist @elianamoreno, pilot George Marciniw and Edy Gutierrez Mejia. Moreno and Marciniw were aboard NewsChopper4, covering the deadly crash, when the helicopter fell from the sky and crashed into a nearby parking lot before bursting into flames. Gutierrez Mejia, who was on the ground in the parking lot, was also killed in the helicopter crash. @MayorOfLA and @CD12LA joined mourners at the vigil, reflecting on the sudden loss experienced by the victims' families. "There is such profound grief that comes with unexpectedly losing someone you love," Mayor Karen Bass said. "My heart is with the families whose lives changed forever Tuesday night. Simply going to work, coming from work, to come back to your family. You expect to see them and they never arrive." Candles illuminated the grounds of St. John Eudes Parish as hundreds gathered to grieve, support the victims' loved ones and honor the five lives lost. The vigil came just two days after the tragedies, bringing together a community still reeling from a series of events that claimed five lives in a matter of hours.