Southern California's Mountain Fire is destroying dozens of homes, putting thousands under evacuation orders
A raging wildfire fueled by a powerful storm tore through communities northwest of Los Angeles for a second day Thursday after destroying dozens of homes and forcing thousands of residents to flee as it exploded in size within hours.
The Mountain Fire prompted the evacuation of more than 10,000 people Wednesday as it threatened 3,500 structures in urban communities, farms and agricultural areas near Camarillo, a city of about 70,000 people, said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement.
The fire was zero percent Thursday morning. The National Weather Service said a red flag warning, which indicates an “extremely dangerous” condition for wildfires, will remain in effect until Friday. Winds were expected to drop significantly Thursday night, the weather service said.
That kind of warning hasn't been issued in the area since 2020, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to be aware of fast-spreading fires, power outages and downed trees during the latest round of severe Santa Ana winds.
With forecast gusts up to 80 km/h and humidity levels as low as nine percent, parts of Southern California could experience conditions ripe for “extremely dangerous and life-threatening” fire behavior Thursday, the weather service said. Wind gusts peaked at 98 km/h on Wednesday.
Residents described frantically escaping nearby flames after receiving an evacuation order from California's Mountain Fire.
'As It Rises'
Thick smoke rose into the sky on Wednesday, covering the entire area and limiting the visibility of firefighters and evacuees. The fire grew from less than 1.2 square kilometers to more than 62 square kilometers in more than five hours.
First responders urged residents to evacuate. Deputies contacted 14,000 people to urge them to leave as the embers spread for miles and ignited new flames.
Ventura County Fire Captain Trevor Johnson described crews racing their engines to homes threatened by flames to save lives.
“This is as intense as it gets. I'm sure the hairs on the back of the firefighters' necks stood on end,” he said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Two people who appeared to be engulfed in smoke were taken to hospitals on Wednesday, the fire department said. No firefighters reported major injuries.
Officials said they were using all resources, including water-dropping helicopters and helicopters to drop firefighting equipment, but the fire was still burning out of control.
The Mountain Fire was burning in a region that has seen some of California's most destructive fires in recent years.
Wednesday's fires were burning in similar areas to other recent devastating fires, including the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes near Los Angeles, and the 2017 Thomas Fire, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes and other structures in Ventura. and Santa Barbara counties. Southern California Edison, one of the largest utilities in the US, has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after its equipment was blamed for both blazes.
Forecasters also issued red flag warnings through Thursday from the central California coast through the San Francisco Bay Area and northern states, where strong winds were expected. Utilities in California have begun taking down equipment as more fires in recent years have claimed power lines and other infrastructure. As of Wednesday, more than 65,000 customers in Southern California were without power due to the outage and more than 20,000 in Northern California.
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