Firefighters in Southern California made significant progress on Friday against a wildfire that has already wiped out at least 132 buildings, primarily homes.
After battling some pretty intense winds for a couple of days, they’re finally seeing more favorable conditions expected to last through the weekend. The forecast shows lighter winds, which should help the crews continue their efforts.
Meteorologists are keeping an eye on a weather system that might move into Southern California next week, but thankfully it’s not predicted to bring another wave of those extreme winds we saw earlier.
Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff mentioned that around 3,500 homes have been cleared for residents to return, but about 2,000 families are still waiting to go back.
One of those returning was Maryanne Belote, who came back on Friday to sift through what’s left of her property after making a narrow escape with her pets—her cat, dog, and horses—as the fire raged nearby.
The only thing left standing at her home was a rock wall she had built herself.
“If I hadn’t gotten the horses out, I would have been devastated,” she said as she stood outside the remnants of her home of 50 years with her dog in the car nearby.
“But I’ve got my family and my animals safe; that’s what matters. I’ll rebuild.”
The Mountain Fire kicked off Wednesday morning in Ventura County and has spread across about 32 square miles (around 83 square kilometers). By Friday evening, it was reported to be about 14% contained.
“We didn’t see any movement today,” said Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner on Friday—“That’s fantastic news!”
Meanwhile, Bill Nardoni and his family were digging through the ashes of their Camarillo home later that afternoon when he found his wedding ring in a safe! Unfortunately, his wife’s ring—which was stored in another safe elsewhere—was still missing and he wasn’t too optimistic about finding it intact.
They had fled their home on Wednesday morning with their dogs as flames closed in from both sides of their road. Returning on Friday to see what remained was heartbreaking; they had just bought the house a year ago and were still remodeling it when disaster struck.
“It’s completely decimated,” he lamented. “There’s really nothing salvageable here.”
Over three days, thousands were under evacuation orders as the fire threatened around 3,500 structures across suburban areas and agricultural land near Camarillo in Ventura County.
In addition to the homes destroyed, at least 88 more buildings suffered damage from either fire or water used by firefighters—but officials haven’t specified how many were burned versus affected by smoke or water damage yet.
As for what started this fire? That remains unknown for now.
On Thursday, Fryhoff reported that ten individuals experienced smoke inhalation and other non-life-threatening injuries. The following day, the sheriff announced that deputies would be bringing in cadaver dogs to search the area as a precautionary measure, even though no one has been reported missing.
In various Southern California counties, officials are warning residents to stay alert for rapidly spreading fires, power outages, and fallen trees due to the latest round of those infamous Santa Ana winds.
This includes a rural part of northern San Diego County where a brush fire led to mandatory evacuations on Friday afternoon.
For those unfamiliar, Santa Ana winds are dry and warm gusts that blow from inland Southern California toward the coast, going against the usual flow of moist air coming in from the Pacific.
These winds typically show up in fall and can stick around through winter and into early spring. Most areas had their red flag warnings—indicating high fire danger—lifted by Thursday; however, they remained in effect in the Santa Susana Mountains until Friday morning when wind speeds started to drop.
Additionally, an air quality alert was issued from Friday morning through Saturday afternoon due to harmful fine particles from wildfire smoke. As a result of these fires, over a dozen school districts and campuses in Ventura County were closed on Friday according to local education officials.
The Mountain Fire has been particularly concerning as it’s burning in an area known for some of California’s most devastating wildfires over the years.
It escalated quickly from less than half a square mile to more than 16 square miles in just over five hours on Wednesday! In response to all this chaos, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Ventura County.