CAMARILLO, Calif. — Firefighters in Southern California battling a wildfire that has destroyed 132 structures over two days may receive some assistance from a forecast predicting easing fierce wind gusts early Friday, officials said.
The Mountain Fire ignited Wednesday morning in Ventura County and had expanded to 32 square miles (about 83 square kilometers), with 5% containment achieved by Thursday night.
As of Friday morning, approximately 10,000 people remained under evacuation orders as the fire continued to pose a threat to around 3,500 structures in suburban neighborhoods, ranches, and agricultural areas surrounding Camarillo in Ventura County.
In addition to the 132 structures destroyed, primarily homes, at least 88 others sustained damage. Officials didn’t specify whether this damage resulted from burning, water, or smoke. The origin of the fire remains undetermined.
Joey Parish returned to the site of his former home in Camarillo Heights, where he had resided for over 20 years. All that remained was a portion of the burned-out steel frame.
“It’s tough, it’s really tough to know how to process the emotions,” he told KNBC-TV on Thursday. He had evacuated with his wife and their cat. “Neither one of us has been able to cry yet,” he said.
“What I have on my back is what I came out with,” he said. “My cellphone, and not even a charger, and no toothbrush — nothing.”
Ten individuals sustained smoke inhalation or other non-life-threatening injuries, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff reported.
Crews working in challenging terrain, aided by water-dropping helicopters, were prioritizing the protection of homes located on hillsides along the fire’s northeastern edge near the city of Santa Paula, home to over 30,000 residents, county fire officials stated.
Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to remain vigilant for rapidly spreading blazes, power outages, and fallen trees during the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds.
Santa Anas are dry, warm, and gusty northeast winds that originate from the interior of Southern California and blow towards the coast and offshore, moving in the opposite direction of the normal onshore flow that carries moist air from the Pacific. These winds typically occur during the fall months and persist through winter and into early spring.
Ariel Cohen, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard, indicated that Santa Ana winds were subsiding in lower elevations but remained gusty across higher elevations Thursday evening.
Red flag warnings, signifying conditions conducive to high fire danger, expired in the region except in the Santa Susana Mountains, where they are scheduled to expire by 11 a.m. Friday. Cohen stated that the Santa Anas are expected to return early to midweek next week.
The Mountain Fire was burning in a region that has experienced some of California’s most destructive fires throughout the years. The fire’s rapid growth from less than half a square mile (about 1.2 square kilometers) to over 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in just over five hours on Wednesday was noteworthy.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Ventura County.
Following a series of massive and deadly wildfires in recent years, ignited by electrical lines and other infrastructure, California utilities began powering down equipment during periods of high winds and extreme fire danger.
Southern California Edison reported that power was shut off to nearly 70,000 customers in five counties due to the heightened risk on Thursday. Gabriela Ornelas, a company spokesperson, couldn’t provide immediate confirmation regarding whether power had been shut off in the area where the Mountain Fire originated.
The wildfires were burning in the same areas as other recent destructive infernos, including the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which claimed three lives and destroyed 1,600 homes near Los Angeles, and the 2017 Thomas Fire, which consumed over 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 its equipment was implicated in both blazes.
