The firefighters gained ground over the fire thanks to the decreased winds
The Firefighter’s Guide in Camarillo, Calif., Meets Belote, the Empirical Director of the Santa Paula Wildfire
CAMARILLO, Calif. — Southern California firefighters gained ground Friday against a wildfire that has destroyed at least 132 structures, mostly houses, as favorable conditions were expected to continue through the weekend after two days of dangerous gusty winds.
Ten people have been injured in the course of the fire, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said. Most of them suffered from smoke inhalation or other non-life-threatening injuries.
Over three days, thousands of people were under evacuation orders as the fire threatened about 3,500 structures in suburban neighborhoods, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo in Ventura County.
County fire officials said crews working in steep terrain with support from water-dropping helicopters were focusing on protecting homes on hillsides along the fire’s northeast edge near the city of Santa Paula, home to more than 30,000 people.
The charred remains of their properties were looked at by Maryanne Belote. While the fire rages in the area she went home to her hillside neighborhood in the city of Camarillo, which is northwest of Los Angeles. The only thing standing was a rock wall she built.
Her father returned to the house an hour after evacuating Wednesday to find it already destroyed. He was able to move four of their vintage cars to safety but two — including a Chevy Nova he’d had since he was 18 — burned to “toast,” Barton said.
The Mountain Fire in Santa Susana, Calif., About the Last Few Days of the Santa Ana Winds: A Call to the Rescue Team
Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to be on watch for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees during the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds, including in a rural area of northern San Diego County where a brush fire prompted mandatory evacuations Friday afternoon.
The Santa Ana winds were still blowing across the higher elevations but subsiding in the lower elevations, according to the National Weather Service.
The red flag warnings expired in the Santa Susana Mountains on Friday when the winds began to diminish.
The Mountain Fire was burning in a region that has seen some of California’s most destructive fires over the years. The fire swiftly grew from less than half a square mile (about 1.2 square kilometers) to more than 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in little more than five hours on Wednesday.
Marcus Eriksen said the firefighters did a good job of keeping the fire from spreading to his home and other structures in Santa Paula.
The flames were up to 30 feet tall and moving quickly, Eriksen said Thursday. Firefighters kept fighting to save as much as possible on his property even though they were overwhelmed by their speed. Thanks to their work, “we dodged a bullet, big time,” he said.
Boggie thought they were going to lose it at 7 am Thursday. She initially fled with her two dogs while her sister and nephew stayed behind. She said that the situation seemed to be better hours later.
The Mountain Fire in Santa Barbara, California, is NOT the same as the Oxygen Mountain Fire, which killed two people, injured tens of thousands
More than a dozen school districts and campuses in Ventura were closed on Thursday and some are expected to be closed on Friday.
Power was shut off to nearly 70,000 customers in five counties over the heightened risk, Southern California Edison said Thursday. It was not immediately known whether the power was shut off in the area where the Mountain Fire began.
In the same areas of other destructive infernos, such as the Woolsey Fire which killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes in Los Angeles, and the Thomas Fire which burned over a thousand structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, there have been more than a dozen similar fires. Southern California Edison has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after its equipment was blamed for both blazes.
Nardoni, his wife and his visiting mother-in-law fled Wednesday morning with their dogs as flames engulfed both sides of their road. They returned Friday to devastation at a home they’d bought only a year ago that was still going through a remodel.
Bill Nardoni and his family looked through the rubble of their home in Thousand Oaks and found a safe with his wedding ring in it. But his wife’s, kept in a different safe in another part of their house, remained missing and Nardoni did not have high hopes that it would be found intact.
The Repopulation of Ventura County’s Homes over the Last Five Years: After Two Thousand Years, the Restricted Units Have Almost Been Found
“If I hadn’t gotten the horses, I would have been devastated, but I have my family and I have my animals so, I’m OK. I will rebuild,” she said standing outside the remains of her home of 50 years while her dog stayed in her car.
The number of houses repopulated in Ventura County has increased from 3,500 to 3,500 but the number of homes that haven’t been returned has remained the same.
Light winds are expected to aid firefighters over the weekend. Meteorologists are monitoring a weather system that could hit Southern California next week but it is not expected to bring another round of extreme winds like earlier this week.
