Dozens of communities are now under mandatory evacuation orders in Southern California with evacuation warnings affecting dozens more as crews continued battling a pair of deadly wildfires in the region Friday.

Red flag weather warning: A National Weather Service alert that warns the public — especially fire officials and firefighters — that strong winds are expected in specific areas of Southern California, and that there will be potentially dangerous fire weather conditions within the next 12 to 24 hours.

The most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history Thursday have burned more than 54 square miles of land, destroyed thousands of structures and killed at least five people.

A short reprieve in the strong destructive winds has granted firefighters an opportunity to curb the spread of the deadly Eaton Fire near Pasadena.

Red flag criteria is generally when relative humidity is at 15% or less, combined with sustained winds and/or gusts of 25 mph or greater. Both of these conditions must occur simultaneously for at least 3 hours in a 12 hour period, according to the NWS.

Dire warnings have been issued for the Los Angeles area, with a dangerous threat for the strongest wind event in more than a decade. Outages and extreme fire behaviours are major risks

The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag waning for a wide swath of Southern California as Santa Ana winds are expected to bring dangerous fire weather to the region later this week.

Strong Santa Ana winds are hitting fire-ravaged Los Angeles on Friday morning, but the winds will relax later in the day and the red flag warning will end Friday night.

The Santa Ana winds will stick around into Friday morning as most of the region remains under a critical fire risk.The National Weather Service extended a red flag warning for much of the region until 6 p.