Favorable weather conditions helped thousands of firefighters gain the upper hand Saturday on the devastating Mountain Fire that has burned some 20,000 acres, destroyed more than 130 homes and damaged nearly 90 others — all while upending the lives of residents in the Ventura County.
The fire was 21% contained Saturday evening as crews extinguished mulch fires on farmland north of Highway 118, a few kilometers east of the fire’s point of origin, in the Somis district. In Santa Paula, firefighters were putting out smoky areas at the bottom of the Santa Clara River, while in the hard-hit Camarillo Heights neighborhood, they were cleaning up hot spots about 300 feet from the fire’s perimeter, amid burned homes .
“A lot of resources are going to be there today,” Clint Swensen, chief of operations for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said of the Camarillo Heights efforts.
The fire started shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday morning in an isolated area near Bradley and Balcom Canyon roads amid optimal Santa Ana wildfire conditions, with wind gusts exceeding 60 mph and humidity in the single digits — prompting the National Weather Service to issue a “red flag.” alert.” Its cause remains under investigation.
Gene Potkey, Cal Fire’s deputy chief, said 12 crews were inspecting fire damage and had so far confirmed 104 structures destroyed and 25 structures damaged.
On Saturday, the weather cooperated with some 3,000 firefighters working on the blaze, as winds calmed and relative humidity levels increased.
This trend is expected to continue through Monday, giving teams several days to move forward and get things going. However, windy and dry conditions are expected to increase again in the evening and Tuesday, posing a danger again.
“We are monitoring the situation very closely as it coincides with the potential for critical fire weather,” said Ariel Cohen, meteorologist in charge with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles and Oxnard.
Favorable weather conditions and progress by firefighters improved air quality Saturday, with an alert issued by the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District set to expire at 4 p.m.
A thick layer of smoke blanketed the county on Friday, forcing many residents and schools to close their doors, but on Saturday air quality was rated “good to moderate” for all areas of the air district and is expected to remain so. until Monday.
However, given the risk of the chemical benzene leaching into water systems from burned materials, the California American Water Co., Pleasant Valley Mutual Water Co. and Crestview Mutual Water Co. had issued alerts of unsafe water, which meant the water was not drinkable. safe for consumption even if it has been boiled.
The fire prompted evacuation notices for thousands of residents in the path of the fire. As of Saturday, 10 areas were still under these advisories, including neighborhoods north of Somis, around Santa Paula and near Grimes Canyon Road. Residents can check the Ventura County Sheriff’s Emergency Services Incident Dashboard for the latest information.
Southern California Edison, which had cut power to more than 40,000 area homes as a precaution as the Santa Ana winds howled, reported Saturday that fewer than 100 homes were without power in the county.
The fire caused its greatest damage on Wednesday, when powerful winds prevented planes from dropping fire-retardant chemicals as firefighters struggled to battle the flames in rugged, steep terrain amid periodic water shortages.
The adverse weather also sparked smaller wildfires elsewhere in Southern California, including Santa Barbara County, the Angeles National Forest and Malibu.
The Mountain Fire was the most destructive wildfire in Southern California in several years – although it did not approach the damage caused by the Thomas Fire in 2017, which burned more of 280,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, or the even more devastating Woolsey Fire the following year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who visited the fire zone Thursday, declared a state of emergency that day in the county, which helped mobilize firefighting resources. On Friday, he issued an executive order to speed debris removal and mobilize the California National Guard. He also spoke with President Biden about federal aid, including helping with rising costs.
The Mountain Fire is the sixth wildfire in this area of Ventura County since 1986, including most recently the 2023 South and 2019 Maria fires that burned thousands of acres in the western part of the current fire.
Repeated fires in a single area create a dangerous cycle that burns brush and trees and gives way to light invasive weeds that provide excellent tinder for new fires – especially this year, after two seasons of heavy growth followed by record late summer heat. .
