one from the south California fire It has destroyed 132 structures, most of them homes, in less than two days, fire officials said Thursday. strong winds they predicted that they would be easier.
The fire started Wednesday morning in Ventura County and has grown to about 32 square miles (83 square kilometers) with 5 percent containment. Its cause has not been determined.
Ten people were injured in the fire, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said. Most suffered from smoke inhalation or other non-life threatening injuries.
Fire officials said another 88 structures were damaged, but did not specify whether they were caused by water or smoke damage or were burned.
About 10,000 people remained under evacuation orders Thursday as the Mountain Fire continued to threaten about 3,500 structures in rural, ranching and agricultural areas around Camarillo in Ventura County.
County fire officials said crews working with helicopter support on steep terrain were focusing on protecting homes in the hills on the northeast edge of the fire near the city of Santa Paula, home to more than 30,000 people.
Kelly Barton watched as firefighters sifted through the charred remains of her parents’ 20-year-old ranch in the hills of Camarillo, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Crews found two safes and his parents’ collection of vintage board games undamaged in the wreckage.
“This was a retirement home forever,” Barton said Thursday. “Now at the age of 70, they have to start again.”
Her father returned home an hour after evacuating on Wednesday to find it already destroyed. He was able to get all four of their old cars to safety, but two, including a Chevy Nova He’s had it since he was 18, a “toast” roast, Barton said.
Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to be alert for fast-spreading fires, power outages and downed trees during the latest shift. Santa Ana familiar winds.
They are Santa Anas dry, warm and gusty northeast wind This shock, which moves inland and offshore from Southern California, moves in the opposite direction of the normal overland flow that carries moist air from the Pacific Ocean. They usually occur in the fall months and continue into winter and early spring.
Ariel Cohen, chief meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said Santa Ana’s winds were easing at lower elevations but remained gusty at higher elevations Thursday afternoon.
Red flag warnings, indicating high fire danger conditions, had expired for the area except for the Santa Susanna Mountains, Cohen said. The warnings will expire at 11 a.m. Friday on the mountain.
Santa Ana winds are expected to return early next week, Cohen added.
The mountain fire was burning in a region that has seen some of California’s most destructive wildfires in years. The fire quickly grew from less than half a square mile (about 1.2 square kilometers) to more than 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in less than five hours Wednesday. About 32 square miles (83 square kilometers) had been mapped by Thursday evening and Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the county.
Marcus Eriksen, who owns a farm in Santa Paula, said firefighters were unable to spread the embers to his home, his vehicles and other structures, even though they engulfed piles of compost and wood chips.
The flames were 30 feet (9 meters) high and moving quickly, Eriksen said Thursday. Their speed and ferocity overwhelmed him, but firefighters continued to fight to save what they could on his property. Thanks to their work, “we dodged a bullet, very well,” he said.
Sharon Boggie said the fire came within 200 feet (60 meters) of her home in Santa Paula.
“We thought we were going to lose it at 7:00 this morning,” Boggie said Thursday as white smoke billowed through the neighborhood. At first he ran away with his two dogs while his sister and nephew stayed behind. A few hours later the situation seemed better, he said.
The Ventura Office of Education reported that more than a dozen school districts and campuses in the county were closed Thursday, and a handful were expected to remain closed Friday.
California utilities began shutting down equipment in high winds and extreme fire hazard In recent years, power lines and other infrastructure have suffered from a series of devastating and deadly fires.
Nearly 70,000 customers in five countries were without power due to the high risk, Southern California Edison he said on Thursday. Edison spokeswoman Gabriela Ornelas could not immediately answer whether the power was out in the area where the mountain fire broke out.
Wildfires burned in the same areas as the last devastating inferno, including in 2018. Woolsey firewhich killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes near Los Angeles, and the 2017 Thomas Fire, which burned more than a thousand homes and other structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Southern California Edison has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after his equipment was blamed for two fires.
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