CAMARILLO, California / JACKSON Township, New jersey —
A wildfire northwest of Los Angeles burned out of control for a second day Thursday after destroying dozens of homes, but officials said firefighters could get a break with heavy winds expected to subside by evening.
More than 10,000 residents remained under evacuation orders as the Mountain Fire continued to threaten about 3,500 structures in suburban neighborhoods, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo in Ventura County. The blaze, which broke out around 9 a.m. Wednesday, had zero containment.
County fire officials 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.
“It’s been a long 26 hours since this incident started, and it remains dynamic and it remains dangerous,” Ventura County Fire Department Chief Dustin Gardner said at a Thursday morning briefing.
Sharon Boggie said the fire came within 60 meters of her property in Santa Paula.
“We thought we were going to lose it at 7 o’clock this morning,” Boggie said outside her house Thursday as white smoke billowed through the neighborhood. She initially fled with her two dogs while her sister and nephew stayed behind. Hours later, the situation seemed better, she said.
The National Weather Service said a red flag warning, which indicates conditions for high fire danger, would remain in effect until 6 p.m. Winds were expected to decrease significantly but humidity levels will remain critically low, forecasters 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.
The Mountain Fire was burning in a region that has seen some of California’s most destructive fires over the years.
From its start on Wednesday, the fire swiftly grew from about 1.2 square kilometers to more than 41 square kilometers in little more than five hours. By Thursday morning, it was mapped at just more than 57 square kilometers.
At least 800 firefighters were assigned to the blaze and hundreds more were arriving from around the state, the department said. Numerous structures were affected, fire officials said, but the extent of the destruction won’t be known until the 10 damage assessment teams deployed Thursday complete their work.
First responders pleaded with residents to heed evacuation orders. Deputies contacted 14,000 people to urge them to leave as embers spread for up to 5 kilometers.
Two fires on East Coast
Across the country in New Jersey, crews were battling two fires Thursday.
A blaze in Evesham Township in suburban Philadelphia was threatening 50 homes, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. It could not immediately give a size estimate for the fire.
“This is the driest we’ve been in the agency’s history,” said Jeremy Webber, a supervising fire warden with the Fire Service.
Lack of significant rainfall since August contributed to the dry conditions, which prompted the state to strictly limit outdoor fires.
The second fire, about an hour to the east in Jackson Township, was less than half contained.
That fire, in the central portion of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, had grown to less than 1.2 square kilometers and was 40% contained as of midmorning Thursday, said Deale Carey, incident commander for the Fire Service.
About 25 homes were evacuated near the Jackson fire, although residents were permitted to return Wednesday night.
Joann Bertone lives near that fire and described animal and horse owners scrambling to arrange trailers to carry them to safety.
“It was extremely scary,” she said. “I was up all night. It was nerve-racking.”
The causes of both fires remained under investigation.
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