AP – A fast-moving wildfire fuelled by heavy winds was tearing through a community northwest of Los Angeles for a second day yesterday after destroying dozens of homes and forcing thousands of residents to flee when it exploded in size in only a few hours.
The Mountain Fire prompted evacuation orders on Wednesday for more than 10,000 people as it threatened 3,500 structures in suburban communities, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo, California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. The fire was at zero per cent containment late Wednesday, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning, which indicates conditions for high fire danger.
Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to be on watch for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees amid 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. A thick plume of smoke rose hundreds of feet into the sky on Wednesday, blanketing whole neighbourhoods and limiting visibility for firefighters and evacuees. The fire grew from less than 1.2 square kilometres to more than 62 square kilometres in little more than five hours.
First responders pleaded with residents to evacuate. Deputies made contact with 14,000 people to urge them to leave as embers spread for miles and sparked new flames.
Ventura County Fire Captain Trevor Johnson described crews racing with their engines to homes threatened by the flames to save lives.
“This is as intense as it gets. The hair on the back of the firefighters’ neck I’m sure was standing up,” he said during a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Two people suffered apparent smoke inhalation and were taken to hospitals on Wednesday, fire officials said. No firefighters reported significant injuries.
Officials said they used all resources, including water-dropping helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft dropping fire retardant, but it was still burning. Ventura County fire spokesperson Andrew Dowd said he did not have details of how many structures were damaged.
