Ventura County fire explodes, trapping residents, threatening homes

A pair of fires that ignited amid an extreme wind event in Southern California led to evacuation orders Wednesday as authorities rushed to save people from the fast-moving flames.

The fires, driven by the region’s most extreme wind event in years, already have caused injuries, officials said. Several homes have burned in Camarillo and many others are threatened.

The Mountain fire in Ventura County has grown to 1,500 acres and injured several people who were hospitalized, according to the county’s fire department. The high winds mean retardant-dropping airplanes are unable to aid in the firefighting effort, the department said. The fire had hopped the 118 Freeway and is threatening Camarillo Heights. Meanwhile, a 50-acre brush fire in Malibu Bluffs Park in Los Angeles County has burned one structure, officials said.

While firefighters are combating the blaze in Ventura County, it’s an uphill battle.

“It’s like trying to put out a blowtorch with a squirt gun,” said Ventura County Fire Department Capt. Tony McHale in an interview with KABC.

Evacuations in the Camarillo Heights neighborhood were underway Wednesday morning. Authorities ordered people to clear out from North Lewis Road to Los Posas Country Club to north of Loop Drive, according to the county’s emergency website.

The fires started amid a Santa Ana wind event that was generating 70 to 80 mph wind gusts in some parts of Los Angeles County on Wednesday, triggering power outages, traffic concerns and warnings about fire risks.

The Malibu fire was reported around 9 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The wind-driven Mountain Fire north of Camarillo was growing quickly as it burned through neighborhoods where ranches, orchards and small homes dot the landscape, according to McHale.

“We’re faced with extreme fire weather,” McHale said.

Video on KTLA showed people evacuating the area, including a woman removing two of her horses from the threatened land.

A woman who identified herself during an interview with ABC as the wife of a Ventura County firefighter said she saw their house begin to burn this morning. Their daughter told the station she watched their home start to burn.

“Our roof is pretty, pretty burned up,” the woman’s daughter said. “I was in there getting our ducks, and as I was in there the pond was just catching flames. As I was standing there trying to get them out.”

The National Weather Service issued the elevated red flag alert, warning of “widespread, extreme fire weather conditions” through Friday across southwest California. The alert hasn’t been heightened to a “particularly dangerous situation” in the Los Angeles area since 2020, according to Ariel Cohen, the lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office in Oxnard.

“This is a very rare category that we use to describe the most extreme, critical conditions,” Cohen said. “The potential is there for exceptionally large fire to form.”

To mitigate those risks, on Tuesday night Southern California Edison began shutting off power to customers in areas where its equipment was considered at high risk of sparking a wildfire.

At least 46,000 customers across L.A., San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, Orange and Santa Barbara counties were without power Wednesday morning “due to heightened wildfire risk,” according to the utility. Another 228,000 were being considered for the safety shutoffs through at least Thursday, SCE reported.

The extremely high winds, low humidity and dry brush are creating a “very volatile combination,” Cohen said.

The alert has been issued for wide swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, stretching through at least Thursday. Much of the surrounding area also is facing dangerous winds, with high wind or standard red flag warnings issued for the San Bernardino and Riverside county mountains, the Inland Empire and parts of Orange County.

“This is definitely a rare footprint size for a Santa Ana wind event,” Cohen said. “It’s rather uncommon … for the high winds to expand all the way through the L.A. Basin.”

He said high winds were expected to affect coastal areas, including the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Long Beach.

The strongest gusts are expected in the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains, where gusts of 50 to 100 mph are predicted and humidity levels are expected to drop to as low as 8% — creating prime conditions for “extreme and life-threatening” fire behavior, according to the weather service.

While fast-moving fires are the main concern, the weather service also is urging residents to be on guard for downed trees and power lines, and for dangerous winds on certain roadways. In the Antelope Valley, a high wind advisory is in effect on the 14 Freeway from Ward Road to the Kern County line, where the California Highway Patrol is urging people to be extra cautious driving large vehicles or hauling trailers.

“There’s a lot of damage going on out there, very dangerous driving conditions,” Cohen said. California Highway Patrol responded to an overturned semitruck on the 210 freeway early Wednesday blocking eastbound lanes, officials said.

As a result of the elevated fire risk and high winds, Topanga Canyon Boulevard will be closed between Mulholland Drive and the Pacific Coast Highway to nonresidents from 6 a.m. Wednesday until 6 a.m. Friday.

Kevin McGowan, director of L.A. County’s Office of Emergency Management, urged residents to be ready to evacuate “at a moment’s notice,” especially those living in the canyon, mountain or foothill communities.

County officials are asking residents in high-risk areas to sign up for emergency phone alerts, keep mobile phones and other devices charged, have working flashlights ready and to park their vehicle in the driveway to avoid being stuck behind a garage door in the case of a power outage.

Meanwhile, regional fire departments are gearing up to respond to the fire danger.

“With widespread critical fire weather conditions impacting Southern California, the County of Los Angeles Fire Department has implemented its augmented staffing plan by ordering additional staffing and pre-deployment of ground and aerial resources throughout Los Angeles County,” L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said in a statement.

High winds also are expected in the Bay Area and the Central Coast, where the weather service has issued a standard red flag warning, starting Tuesday morning and extending through at least 7 a.m. Thursday.

Pacific Gas & Electric initiated more than 19,000 power shutoffs beginning Tuesday night in Lake, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties, and more were expected Wednesday and Thursday.

City News Service contributed to this report.

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