Ventura County Mountain Fire in Moorpark explodes to 8,800 acres amid Red Flag warnings in California

Firefighters are working to contain a rapidly burning brush fire in Ventura County, which they say is being fueled by strong winds blowing through the area. 

The blaze, being referred to as the Mountain Fire, was first reported at around 8:50 a.m. near the 7900 block of Balcom Canyon Road and Bradley Road on South Mountain in the Moorpark area, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. It was first said to be around 25 acres, but in just about an hour's time, the blaze had ballooned in size to engulf nearly 1,000 acres of brush.

By 1:30 p.m., Cal Fire officials reported that the blaze had consumed more than 8,800 acres. It is 0% contained. 

"Several individuals have been injured and transported to local hospitals," firefighters further noted in a post on X. "Numerous structures are currently threatened."

None of the victims conditions were immediately known. 

At about 11 a.m., VCFD crews reported that the flames had jumped SR-118 and was moving into the Camarillo area, encroaching upon the Camarillo Heights area. 

SkyCal was overhead a neighborhood near Cabrillo Way and Highland Drive at around 1 p.m., where four different homes were simultaneously burning.

San Bernardino County Fire Department crews reported that a strike team was deployed to the area to assist VCFD with the incident. 

Powerful winds fueling flames

The fire comes in the midst of severe winds battering much of Southern California, which prompted National Weather Service officials to issue Red Flag Warnings. In this particular instance they issued a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" alert because of the threat posed by "an ongoing or imminent fire weather pattern."

KCAL News meteorologists tracked some gusts of wind that reached more than 60 miles per hour while the fire was burning. 

"Strong winds in the area are contributing to challenging conditions," VCFD said at around 10 a.m.. "Currently, 140 firefighters are on scene, utilizing 58 fire apparatus, with additional helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft requested to assist."

However, due to the wind, fixed-wing aircraft were unable to respond to the firefighter, VCFD Public Information Andrew Dowd said. 

SkyCal flew over the scene of the fire, where multiple structures could be seen burning. The flames ripped through what looked to be both farmland and natural vegetation. At one point, the flames dangerously encroached upon a powerline near Balcom Canyon Road and Chester Way. 

"The fire is burning in what we call an intermix area, which is a mixture of wild land and lots of agriculture," said VCFD Captain Anthony McHale while speaking with KCAL. "There are a number of residences and ranches and smaller neighborhoods that are in the intermix area and that presents enormous challenges to the boots on the ground."

He said that wind-driven fires are one of the most dangerous situations that firefighters face because of the constantly evolving flames, smoke and ember fallout. 

"That can present challenges, and of course, in some cases depending on the dynamics of the winds, those embers can be carried long distances, starting spot fires in receptive fuel beds and structures that might be in the area," McHale said.

The combination of the fire, which is burning uphill through dry vegetation, and the strong wind, are contributing factors in how quickly the flames are moving. 

"That fire will spread faster up just because fire moves upwards," said Dr. John Fisher, a climate scientist at Chapman University. "So, we've got these conditions of the topography, the wind and the plants — and also close to roads and human property — all just kind of coming together to make this a lot worse than it could've been if the winds were calm, the vegetation was wet."

While the cause remains under investigation. Fisher speculates that it may be human-caused. 

"It doesn't even really have to be purposeful. It could be throwing a cigarette butt. It could be a piece of metal on a car that sparks something," Fisher said. 

He also spoke on why Southern California has been so heavily impacted by wildfires this season. 

"We're seeing a lot more wildfires for a lot of reasons. 1. The general climate change angle of things getting hotter and drier, but also, remember now, we just came off a really wet winter also related to climate change," he said. "So, this wet winter ended up growing up a lot of plants and a lot of vegetation that ended up drying out over the summer."

On top of the increased amount of fuel, he says that humans play a large part. 

"We've got also increasing people moving into these areas — more roads, more opportunities for sparks, and then as these fires grow, more threats to human life and property," Fisher said. 

Evacuation orders

Evacuation orders are currently in effect for residents living in the area spanning from Walnut Avenue to Balcom Canyon Road and from North Highway 118 to the ridgeline, west to Saticoy Country Club, firefighters said. An evacuation shelter was available at Padre Serra Parish, located at 5205 Upland Road in Camarillo. 

Additionally, unincorporated Somis was also placed under evacuation order in the area west to the Saticoy Country Club, east to Balcom Canyon Road and south to Highway 118. 

Homeowners with large pets were advised to drop their animals off at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, located at 10 E. Harbor Boulevard. Small pets can be brought to the Ventura County Animal Services center at the Camarillo Airport, located at 600 Aviation Drive.

A realtime map of evacuation orders can be found here. 

Hard road closures were put into place at SR-118 at Tierra Rejada and Wells Road, as well as Balcom Canyon Road at Stockton and Las Posas at Lewis, VCFD said. At noon, they also closed N. Lewis Road.

Drivers traveling on SR-118 and SR-23 were advised to stay vigilant and look out for emergency vehicles heading to the spot of the fire. 

"The biggest challenge we have ... is we have horses coming down the roads," said an Oxnard Fire Department Captain while speaking to KCAL News. "We have had a lot of people that did not evacuate early ... we had lots of traffic in our way."

Multiple schools in the area were affected by the power outages and fires in the area, including Chaparral Middle School and Campus Canyon College Prep Academy. Both were closed as a result of power outages from the fire. No students were said to be at risk. 

Later on Wednesday, Pleasant Valley School District officials released information that the Camarillo Heights Elementary School campus was evacuated "due to the wind event and related fires in surrounding communities." Students that were not picked up were transported to Monte Vista Middle School via bus. 

They also noted that Monte Vista and Las Posas Schools were experiencing power outages, while Santa Rosa Technology Magnet School was on a watch list for a different outage.

At the same time, a different brush fire was burning in Malibu, which had already destroyed at one home and damaged another as it torched 50 acres of brush. 

Residents react

With the dynamic situation, quickly decimating hundreds of acres of vegetation in just hours, residents were forced to jump into action to evacuate their homes. 

"We've never seen anything like this before. Never thought anything like this would happen to us," said Ken Levin, who lives in a home adjacent to the Spanish Hills area. "But fire department is out there, they're bulldozing fire breaks on the back of our property and the wind is going south. So, we feel good about where we are. ... I think we're gonna be okay. Thank God for our firefighters that are here to help us when we need it."

Levin, whose wife had already evacuated by the time he spoke with KCAL News' Jeff Nguyen, was on his way out when he saw the flames start to rip over the hillside. 

"Oh my God, my house is in danger," he said, motioning towards his home "I'm alive. My wife is alive. We have everything we need, this can be replaced."

He said that in all the years that he's lived in the area he's "never experienced wind like this."

At around 1 p.m., California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X to note that state officials were en route to the fire because of the "severe threat" being posted to Camarillo Heights. He also noted that Cal Fire officials and California Office of Emergency Services officials were corresponding to provide necessary support to residents.

Jarring video from the scene showed the moments that Ventura County Sheriff's Department deputies rushed into what looked to be an elderly living facility, ushering several wheelchair-bound residents to safety with massive clouds of smoke in the surrounding area. 

Power outages in place

Because of the Santa Ana wind event that was slated to last throughout the day, SoCal Edison began to cut power service to some customers due to the heightened fire risk.

As of 1 p.m., more than 23,300 SCE customers living in Ventura County were affected by the Public Safety Power Shutoffs, a situation that will continue to develop as the fire burns. 

"They will be active during the wind event and once we see those wind conditions improve, we will start to work to reenergize customers," said Gabriela Ornelas, a public information officer for SCE.

With forecasts predicting that the winds will continue through the evening and into Thursday, Ornelas said power could return sporadically for customers. 

"It is possible that customers could get power back if there are lulls in the wind in certain areas or communities," she said. "That would be a brief instance in this wind event."

Ornelas said that while outages are a known inconvenience, they're conducted with the public's safety in mind. 

"Public safety shutoffs are a last resort that we implement to keep the public safe," she said.