Southern California firefighters made progress against a wildfire that has destroyed 132 structures, mostly homes. The fierce wind gusts that fanned the flames began easing Friday, allowing some people to return to sort through the charred remains of their homes.
Maryanne Belote returned 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 blaze raged in the area. The only thing standing was a rock wall she built.
“If I hadn’t gotten the horses, I would have been devastated, but I have my family and I have my animals so, I’m OK. I will rebuild,” she said, standing outside the remains of her home of 50 years.
The Mountain Fire started Wednesday morning in Ventura County and had grown to about 83 square kilometers. It was 7% contained Friday morning.
About 10,000 people remained under evacuation orders Friday morning as the fire continued to threaten about 3,500 structures in suburban neighborhoods, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo in Ventura County.
At least 88 structures were damaged in addition to the 132 destroyed. Officials did not specify whether they had fire, water or smoke damage.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
Ten people suffered smoke inhalation or other non-life-threatening injuries, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said.
Crews working in steep terrain with support from water-dropping helicopters were focusing on protecting homes on hillsides along the fire’s northeast edge near the city of Santa Paula, home to more than 30,000 people, county fire officials said.
Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to watch for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees during the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds.
Santa Anas are dry, warm and gusty northeast winds that blow from the interior of Southern California toward the coast and offshore, moving in the opposite direction of the normal onshore flow that carries moist air from the Pacific. They typically occur during the fall months and continue through winter and into early spring.
Red flag warnings, indicating conditions for high fire danger, expired Friday morning when winds began diminishing.
Governor Gavin Newsom has proclaimed a state of emergency in Ventura County.
An air quality alert for harmful fine particle pollution was in effect from Friday morning until Saturday afternoon due to smoke from the wildfires.
Across the country in New Jersey, firefighters were stretched thin Friday with at least four wildfires burning in the state, stretching from the Pinelands in the central and western parts of the state to the New York City suburbs.
The latest fire broke out along the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Englewood Cliffs in Bergen County, across the Hudson River from New York.
It was smaller than the three others burning in New Jersey, each of which had burned less than a square mile as of late Thursday.
Those fires, in Jackson, Glassboro and Evesham, were between 50% and 80% contained Friday.
New Jersey has not received measurable precipitation in over a month, the weather service said, setting a record.
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