California's Mountain Fire in Ventura County burns 20,000 acres as "environmental recipe" fuels blaze
After surveying the damage caused by the Mountain Fire in Ventura County, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an emergency proclamation Thursday to help crews extinguish the flames.
Driven by powerful Santa Ana winds, the nearly 32 square mile wildfire forced thousands of people to flee their homes. It quickly exploded by thousands of acres, injuring people and destroying homes in its path.
At least 132 structures have been destroyed and another 88 damaged in the blaze, officials announced at a news conference Thursday night.
Within five hours, the wildfire grew to more than 10,000 acres before scorching another 4,000 acres by 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said. It first sparked at about 8:50 a.m. on South Mountain in the Moorpark area, near the 7900 block of Balcom Canyon Road and Bradley Road, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
Cal Fire officials said the wildfire was some 32 square miles by Thursday night as firefighters managed to increase containment to 5%.
"This happened yesterday," Newsom said while standing next to the remnants of a person's home. "Just extraordinary how quickly this fire moved, how large it's gotten now."
Mandatory evacuation orders were expanded overnight, with Santa Paula the latest community where residents have been forced to flee their homes, Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said during a Thursday morning news conference.
"We know this is a painful time, and our hearts go out to each and every one of you," Fryhoff said, addressing evacuees and others affected in the area. "The fire danger remains extremely high."
Residents in Camarillo, Somis and the Moorpark area have also faced evacuations as the blaze grew.
"We initially engaged in structure defense, life-safety operations and performing nothing short of heroic actions across the incident," Ventura County Fire Captain Trevor Johnson said.
Newsom said more than 10,000 were forced to evacuate as the fire threatened 3,500 homes, businesses and other structures. The Federal Emergency Management Agency issued funding to aid in the firefighting efforts, Newsom said.
At least 14,000 people have been told by authorities to evacuate, Fryhoff said.
The blaze moved toward the southwest over Wednesday and into Thursday, as helicopters continued making water drops throughout the entire night, Johnson said, describing that as "irregular for any wildland incident."
"Our priority on the fire right now is on the northeast side of the fire, that's north of the community of Somis, and south of the community of Santa Paula on the Santa Susana Mountain range there," Johnson said. "The fire there is in a tricky place. It's rugged, steep ground that only our finest firefighters can even access to work in there."
Several environmental factors came together to spark the blaze and rapidly send it through thousands of acres, including plenty of dry brush built up through especially wet weather for the region combined with powerful Santa Ana winds, said Drew Smith, fire behavior analyst with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
"We're coming off of two years of above-average rainfall, which gives us a very robust grass component," Smith said. "And with those fine fuels that are receptive to warm, dry, windy (weather) supports the recipe to support large fire growth when we have high winds."
"So when we have that environmental recipe, if you will, to promote this — it's because of the receptive fuel bed," he said, adding that strong winds can then carry embers up to three miles and lead to "that large fire growth."
Homes destroyed, people injured as they flee
Ventura County officials said 10 people have suffered injuries, mainly smoke inhalation. At an overnight shelter in Camarillo, American Red Cross spokesman David Wagner said nurses at the shelter treated people with scrapes and minor burns they sustained while trying to escape the flames. The shelter provided families with beds and meals as they remained evacuated overnight.
Damage inspection teams are still sorting through the wreckage Thursday to determine just how many homes were destroyed. As of Thursday night, crews counted 132 destroyed buildings and another 88 damaged.
Several evacuees have spoken about trying to help friends, family members and neighbors flee the spreading blaze as it tore through areas of Camarillo, Moorpark and Somis. Dozens of schools announced closures, thousands faced power shutoffs and the city of Ventura asked residents to limit their water use so firefighters have enough to battle the blaze.
About 2,200 firefighters are responding as authorities said they have focused on life-saving efforts.
"Our No. 1 priority here at Ventura County Fire, in running this incident, is life safety," firefighter and Ventura County Fire spokesperson Andrew Dowd said Wednesday. "And we're urging all residents that are in the affected areas to make sure that they're heeding evacuation orders. That's our No. 1 priority."
Wind gusts in the Mountain Fire area reached 39 mph in both Moorpark and Simi Valley Thursday morning, with a high wind warning expected to stay in effect until 4 p.m., when winds are forecasted to die down to about 15 mph.
Evacuation orders
The Ventura County Sheriff's Office issued evacuation orders for thousands of residents in Camarillo, Somis and near the Santa Clara River. As the blaze continued to burn in a southerly direction Thursday morning, evacuation orders in the Camarillo area, including near the Las Posas Country Club and Sterling Hills Golf Club, were in place given the fire's path.
"All evacuation orders and warnings remain in place due to the extreme fire danger," officials said in a Thursday morning update.
A real-time map of evacuation orders can be found here.
"If you're in the fire impact area, if you're smelling smoke, you should be prepared to go," Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said. He also cautioned residents against trying to stay behind to protect their homes.
"We see it over and over and over. People have the best intentions to stay and defend their home right up until the time the fire hits their home," Gardner said. "And it gets hot, and it gets smoky, and you can't see, you can't breathe, and you sure as hell can't defend your home. And then you're stuck... You can replace your stuff. You can't replace your family members."
Authorities have established an evacuation center at Padre Serra Parish, located at 5205 Upland Road in Camarillo.
Homeowners with large pets were advised to drop their animals off at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, located at 10 E. Harbor Boulevard, while small pets can be brought to the Ventura County Animal Shelter near the Camarillo Airport, located at 600 Aviation Drive.
On Thursday, road closures remained in place at the following locations.
- Northbound Lewis Road at Las Posas
- Eastbound Highway 118 at Wells Road
- Westbound Highway 118 at Tierra Rejada Road
School closures
Dozens of Ventura County schools closed due to the Mountain Fire, some campuses closing because of poor air quality due to the massive wildfire and some due to power shutoffs issued by utilities trying to avoid further wildfire risks.
Some schools are taking precautions such as keeping students indoors at campuses that remain open but are seeing widespread smoke and ash in the air.
"Our hearts break for our Camarillo families that have lost their homes," the Pleasant Valley School District said while announcing closures. "We know that our students have been impacted by the events of the day. When we return to school, all schools will have plans to support the mental health needs of our students."
A full list of school closures can be found here.
Powerful Santa Ana winds fuel 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 instance, they issued a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" alert, a rare weather advisory that forecasters say is issued only once every few years due to especially severe conditions.
Meteorologists tracked some gusts blowing more than 60 miles per hour as the fire burned Wednesday. Winds subsided Thursday, with gusts in the area expected to be around 30 miles per hour until around noon, when they are expected to lighten.
Rich Thompson, incident meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said some of the severe Red Flag conditions had improved by Thursday, although Santa Ana winds could continue to gust from the northeast at about 25 to 35 mph in the afternoon.
"This morning, those conditions have moderated a little bit, so now we just have a normal Red Flag warning in effect for the area," Thompson said, adding that especially low humidity will continue through the day while winds will die down later into the afternoon.
Strong winds grounded firefighting fixed-wing aircraft within the first hours of the wildfire, adding another hurdle toward full containment, fire officials said.
According to Dr. Josh Fisher, a climate scientist at Chapman University, many factors came together to result in the wildfire moving quickly as it tore up hillsides, moving upwards as it burned through Ventura County neighborhoods.
"That fire will spread faster up just because fire moves upwards," Fisher said. "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."
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation, authorities said.
Residents react
With the dynamic situation, flames decimating hundreds of acres of vegetation within just a few 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," he said.
In Camarillo, a woman who went to help her friend evacuate scrambled to get her out. "She was so rattled. She couldn't really tell me what all to get, and I was rattled," Cindi Hitt said. "Then, I realized I couldn't stay there any longer. It was just time to go."
But Hitt nearly wasn't able to escape, she said, as her car got stuck just as she tried to drive off.
"My car got stuck right next to where the flames were," she said. "The firemen were right there. They were so helpful."
The firefighters managed to get her car moving so she and her friend could escape. She urged others in the area to leave as fast as possible. "It was very scary. All I can tell you is... Do not wait," Hitt said.