The rapid spread of the wildfires in Southern California were caused by strong winds
More than 132 buildings were destroyed in the 2004 Santa Paula fire, Ventura County Firefighter James Fryhoff said. More than 100 people injured in fire
At least 88 additional structures were damaged in addition to the 132 destroyed. Officials don’t specify whether they have been burned or damaged by water or smoke. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
Ten people have been injured in the course of the fire, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said. Most of them had smoke inhalation or non-life threatening injuries.
Several hundred thousand people were ordered to leave their homes as the fire raged through suburban neighborhoods, ranches and agricultural areas 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.
Kelly Barton watched as firefighters sifted through the charred rubble of her parents’ ranch home of 20 years in the hills of Camarillo with a view of the Pacific Ocean. Her parents’ collection of door knockers and two safes were undamaged by the destruction.
The house was already destroyed when her father returned to it a day later. 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 Paula, California, on Friday afternoon: Rapid fires and power outages in the wake of the latest round of Santa Ana winds
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.
Santa Anas are dry, warm and gusty northeast winds that blow from the interior of Southern California toward the coast and offshore, moving in the opposite direction of the normal onshore flow that carries moist air from the Pacific. They happen during the fall and winter, and then in the early spring.
Most of the area received red flag warnings on Thursday and most of them ended 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 grew in less than five hours from a half a square mile to more than 40 square miles.
Marcus Eriksen, who has a farm in Santa Paula, said firefighters kept embers from spreading to his home, his vehicles and other structures even as piles of compost and wood chips were engulfed.
The flames were 30 feet high and moving quickly. Their speed and ferocity overwhelmed him, but the firefighters kept battling to save as much as they could on his property. He said that they dodged a bullet thanks to their work.
Boggie thought they were going to lose it by 7 this morning. She initially fled with her two dogs while her sister and nephew stayed behind. She said the situation seemed better hours later.
The Mountain Fire was Leashed by Two Fires in Santa Barbara and Ventura County. Edison Reply to the Nardoni, his wife and his wife
The office of education in Ventura County said a number of the districts and campuses were closed Thursday and a few would be closed Friday.
The power had been cut off to 70,0000 customers in five California counties due to heightened risk. Gabriela Ornelas, a spokesperson for Edison, could not immediately answer whether power had been shut off in the area where the Mountain Fire was sparked.
The Woolsey Fire, which killed three people and destroyed more than 1,600 homes near Los Angeles, and the Thomas Fire, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes and other structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties all happened in the same area. 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 went back Friday to the house that they’d bought a year ago and was still being renovated.
After rummaging through the rubble of his house, Bill Nardoni found a safe with his wedding ring inside. 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 Destruction of a Home in Santa Rosa, California, by a Catastrophe-Induced High-Velocity Wind
If I hadn’t gotten the horses, I would be devastated, but I have my family and my animals so, I’m ok. She was standing outside of her destroyed home while her dog stayed in her car and she said she would rebuild.
The Sheriff said that several thousand houses have been repopulated but some people still haven’t returned to their homes.
Forecasters expect light winds over the weekend that will continue to aid firefighters. 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.
More than 132 buildings have been destroyed in the 2004 Santa Paula fire in California, US, according to Ventura County firefighter James Fryhoff. Ten people have been injured in the course of the fire, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said. The fire in Santa Paula spread over 5,000 acres and is 50% contained, officials said.