Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters work at a home destroyed by the Mountain Fire in Camarillo, California, on Friday. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption
Toggle caption Jae C. Hong/AP
CAMARILLO, Calif. — Firefighters in Southern California made progress Friday against a wildfire that destroyed at least 132 structures, most of them homes, as favorable conditions were expected to continue through the weekend after two days of dangerous gusty winds.
Meteorologists expect light winds over the weekend that will continue to help firefighters. Meteorologists are monitoring a weather system that could hit Southern California next week, but it’s not expected to bring another round of extreme winds like early this week.
Ventura County Sheriff James Freihoff said Friday that 3,500 homes have been rehoused, but residents of 2,000 homes still cannot return.
Marianne Bellot was among those who returned on Friday to examine the charred remains of their property. She returned home to her hillside neighborhood in Camarillo, a city northwest of Los Angeles, after making a harrowing escape with her cat, dog and horses as the fire tore through the area. The only thing standing was the rock wall she had built.
“If I didn’t get the horses, I would be devastated, but I have my family and I have my animals, so I’m fine. I’m going to rebuild,” she said, standing outside the ruins of her home of 50 years while her dog remained in her car.
The Mountain Fire started Wednesday morning in Ventura County and has spread to 32 square miles (about 83 square kilometers). It was 14% contained Friday evening.
“We had no outward or lateral movement today,” Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said Friday. “This is amazing.”
Bill Nardone and his family examined the ruins of their Camarillo home Friday afternoon and discovered his wedding ring in a closet. But his wife’s safe, kept in a different safe in another part of their house, remained missing and Nardone had little hopes of finding it intact.
Nardone, his wife and a visiting mother-in-law fled Wednesday morning with their dogs as flames engulfed both sides of their road. On Friday, they returned to the home they bought just a year ago, which was still undergoing remodeling.
“The house has been destroyed. There’s nothing we can really salvage from it,” he said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Over three days, evacuation orders were issued for thousands of people as the fire threatened about 3,500 structures in suburban neighborhoods and farm and agricultural areas around Camarillo in Ventura County.
At least 88 additional buildings were damaged in addition to the 132 destroyed. Officials did not specify whether they were burned or affected by water or smoke damage. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
Ten people suffered smoke inhalation or other non-life-threatening injuries, Freehoff said Thursday.
The next day, the sheriff said his deputies would deploy cadaver dogs to the area as a precaution, though no one was reported missing.
Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to be alert for fast-moving fires, power outages and downed trees during the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds, including a rural area in northern San Diego County where a wildfire prompted mandatory evacuations. . Friday afternoon.
Santa Anse is a dry, warm, gusty northeasterly wind that blows from inland Southern California toward the coast and offshore, moving in the opposite direction to the normal overland flow that carries moist air from the Pacific Ocean. They usually occur during the fall months and continue through the winter and into early spring.
Red flag warnings, which indicate high fire danger conditions, expired for much of the region Thursday, except in the Santa Susana Mountains where warnings expired Friday morning when winds began to ease.
An air quality alert for harmful fine particulate matter pollution was in effect Friday morning through Saturday afternoon due to smoke from the wildfires.
More than a dozen school districts and campuses in Ventura County were closed Friday due to the effects of the fires, according to the county office of education.
The Mountain Fire was burning in an area that has seen some of the most destructive fires in California over the years. The fire quickly grew from less than half a square mile (about 1.2 square kilometers) to more than 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in just over five hours on Wednesday.
Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Ventura County.
