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  • Photos: SoCal driver finds live great horned owl lodged in car grille. Raptor extraction follows

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    A Southern California driver made a startling discovery Sunday morning when they found a live bird of prey stuck in the grille of their car.

    The bird, whose head was peeping out, was a great horned owl, authorities said. An officer with Santa Barbara County Animal Services was called to a residence in the 1000 block of Amethyst Drive in the town of Orcutt around 9:30 a.m. Sunday. At least four firefighters from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department helped with the bird’s rescue, the department told The Times.

    “This is the first time we had an owl, that I’m aware of, entangled in a vehicle,” said Scott Safechuck, a public information officer for the county Fire Department. “Usually it’s a cat, or sometimes we have cattle that get onto the highway.”

    Firefighters carefully cut away portions of the grille as they tried to extract the owl on Sunday.

    (Santa Barbara County Fire Department )

    Authorities do not know how long the owl was stuck but say it may have happened Saturday. The removal operation took about 30 minutes, after which the owl, which had sustained injuries, was taken to the Wildlife Care Network, a wildlife rescue center in Goleta.

    An employee at the wildlife network said that each animal the center helps receives a series of tests, such as CT scans and X-rays, upon arrival. The organization did not immediately provide an update on the owl’s status.

    “It’s infrequent that things like this happen,” Safechuck said. “It’s remarkable the owl was still alive.”

    The great horned owl is considered the largest owl in North America, according to the Santa Barbara Audubon Society. It can weigh as much as 5½ pounds with a wingspan of nearly 5 feet and have large, powerful talons. According to the National Audubon Society, this owl species is not endangered.

    Santa Barbara County Fire assisted Animal Control with the removal of a horned owl in the front grill of a vehicle.

    It took about 30 minutes to free the injured owl, which was taken to a Goleta wildlife rescue, authorities said.

    (Santa Barbara County Fire Department )

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    Jasmine Mendez

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  • Cooler temperatures and thunderstorms coming to Southern California, but with increased fire risk

    Cooler temperatures and thunderstorms coming to Southern California, but with increased fire risk

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    Cooler temperatures and potential rain is coming to southern California this weekend, but with increased fire risk in a region where the state’s largest blaze this year is already burning.

    The National Weather Service is predicting scattered showers and thunderstorms in the southern half of the state on Saturday, along with some cooler temperatures over the weekend that could finally bring some temporary relief to a prolonged heat wave scorching the region.

    National Weather Service meteorologist John Dumas said despite potential wet weather and lower temperatures, fire risk may only increase.

    In a pattern referred to as virga, the moisture in the middle layers of the atmosphere will fall as rain, but evaporate before hitting the ground, Dumas said.

    “Unfortunately, the lightning can still make it,” Dumas said, which might spark new wildfires.

    That could worsen conditions for fire personnel working around the clock to extinguish the Lake fire in Santa Barbara County, California’s largest so far this year. That blaze has grown to 37,742 acres, but firefighters have worked to contain the blaze around the Santa Ynez and Los Olivos region where structures were threatened.

    Crew members have made a “visible difference” on the south side of the fire in recent days, where flames could previously be seen from Santa Ynez and the Lake Cachuma area, said Capt. Scott Safechuck, spokesperson for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department

    Firefighters have worked through nights to make some progress on the blaze with controlled burns of dry vegetation and a water-dropping helicopter. Those coordinated efforts have “really been successful for us eliminating a lot of the threat on the south side,” Safechuck said.

    Risk of fire-igniting dry lightning have led to weather officials issuing a red flag warning until 9 pm Saturday for the mountain and foothill regions of Los Angeles County, according to the weather service, along with the Antelope Valley and valleys of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, Ojai and Casitas Valley.

    Dumas said weather service officials have tools that can both track in real time and model likely lightning strikes, which helps firefighters on the ground.

    Dumas also said the heat will decrease by one or two degrees over the next few days, leading to “almost normal temperatures” by Monday or Tuesday before a new heat wave is expected to roll through Southern California.

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    Hannah Wiley

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