Santa Paula Fire: Blaze burns 31,000 acres ... - Ventura County Star
www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/2017/12/04/fast-moving...fire.../921986001/
23 hours ago - Thousands of residents have been asked to leave their homes as a fast-moving fire whips through canyons and hillsides near Santa Paula and Ventura Monday night.
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Fires in Southern California and Beyond - Los Angeles Times
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news and wildfire policy in Southern California and beyond. ... Shelby
Grad. Los Angeles County firefighters were battling a 2,500-acre brush fire Tuesday morning near Sylmar, fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds. The Creek fire broke out off ... Her dream house with ocean views now in path of Ventura fire · 'It's coming ...
Smoke from Southern California's multiple wildfires is making for some ...
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Ventura County wildfire rages over 50,000 acres, destroys more than 150 structures; 27,000 flee
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fast-moving, wind-fueled wildfire swept into the city of Ventura early
Tuesday, burning 50,000 acres, destroying homes and forcing more than
27,000 people to evacuate.
About
3,000 homes were evacuated, a firefighter was injured and Gov. Jerry
Brown declared a state of emergency in Ventura County on Tuesday
morning, as some 1,000 personnel continued to battle the Thomas fire.
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Firefighters
had not achieved any containment on the fire as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, as
authorities expanded mandatory and voluntary evacuation areas and opened
new shelters throughout the county.
"This
fire is very dangerous and spreading rapidly, but we'll continue to
attack it with all we've got," Brown said. "It's critical residents stay
ready and evacuate immediately if told to do so."
The
state sent resources to help with firefighting efforts. Ventura County
officials have asked the state for eight fixed-wing firefighting
aircraft to help douse the flames, said Ventura County Sheriff's Sgt.
Kevin Donoghue.
At least 150 structures — including at least one large apartment complex and the Vista Del Mar Hospital, a psychiatric facility — were consumed by flames, and many more were threatened.
The
blaze started about 6:25 p.m. Monday in the foothills near Thomas
Aquinas College in Santa Paula, a popular hiking destination. It grew
wildly to more than 15 square miles in the hours that followed —
consuming vegetation that hasn't burned in decades, Ventura County Fire
Sgt. Eric Buschow said.
"The
burn area is pretty much all the mountains between Ventura and Ojai and
extending east to Santa Paula," said Ventura County Sheriff Sgt. Kevin
Donoghue. "It's a challenge because of the enormity of it, and it's a
challenge because it's pretty rugged terrain."
Power
outages also caused problems for firefighters Monday night and rendered
some pumping systems inoperable, said Ventura County Fire Capt. Steve
Kaufmann. Some hydrants couldn't get water pumped to them because there
was no power, he said.
At
one point in Ojai, the entire water system went down, including
hydrants and drinking water, because a pumping system was damaged by the
fire, Kaufmann said.
On
Tuesday morning the water district had sent people to Ventura to repair
the problems, but he did not know status of the repair.
"It definitely presented a challenge to us," he said.
By
12:30 p.m. Tuesday, authorities had ordered a mandatory evacuation of
the entire community of Casitas Springs, northwest of Ventura. The
evacuation area spreads from the northern portion of Highway 33 into
Ojai, said Ventura County Fire Department Capt. Stan Ziegler. The county
also issued a voluntary evacuation order for all parts of Ojai Valley
not under mandatory evacuation.
In
addition to the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura and Nordhoff High
School in Ojai, evacuation centers have been set up at the Oxnard
College gymnasium and Santa Paula Community Center.
The
size of the fire will likely grow, Ziegler said. Authorities are still
seeing "erratic fire behavior and erratic winds so it's making the
firefight very difficult," Ziegler said.
Aircraft
are available for firefighting efforts, but will usually only drop
retardant when winds are below 30 mph, said California Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Scott McLean.
Around 7 a.m., the wind appeared to be pushing the fire east toward Camarillo and north toward Ojai, Lochman said.
On
Tuesday firefighters continued trying to save homes in Ventura, where
the fire was active. They faced a red-flag wind advisory that notes
ridgeline winds of 35 to 45 mph, with gusts up to 70 mph. Winds are
expected to decrease somewhat in the afternoon, said Chad Cook, Ventura
County Fire Department division chief.
The
fire hopscotched through hillside neighborhoods Monday night, burning
some homes and sparing others. Some residents hoped the worst might be
over in the early hours of the morning when the wind died down. But it
picked up with a fury around daybreak, causing more destruction.
Engulfed in flames, the Hawaiian Village Apartments above central Ventura collapsed about 4 a.m.
Water
gushed down North Laurel Street as firefighters worked to put out the
flaming complex and residents watched, holding cameras and cellphones.
The sound of bursting propane tanks filled the air.
Hundreds
of firefighters working through the night tried to prevent the blaze
from spreading, block by block, as they were confronted by wind gusts of
up to 50 mph.
One
firefighter was hit by a car while he was protecting homes. He was at a
hospital, said Ventura County Fire Capt. Scott Quirarte.
Fire officials said the intensity of the fire, coupled with the high winds, made it pretty much unstoppable.
Schools in the Oxnard, Ventura, Hueneme and Santa Paula school districts were closed Tuesday.
California
authorities have secured a grant from the Federal Emergency Management
Agency to assist in firefighting efforts, the Office of Emergency
Services announced Tuesday morning.
Fire officials expected flames would rip through at least 50,000 acres in the mountains between Santa Paula and Ventura.
The
destruction comes in what was already the worst year on record for
wildfires in California. In October, 43 people died and more than 10,000
structures were lost when fires swept through Northern California's wine country.
The
Thomas fire's movement bears some similarity to Northern California's
Tubbs fire, which ravaged the town of Santa Rosa and killed more than 20
people in October, McLean said.
The
Thomas fire has moved almost as quickly as the Tubbs did, with winds
pushing flames that started north of a community into a city, he said.
Like the Tubbs, there are access issues because of the topography,
McLean said.
What's
different, though, is that authorities began the morning of the Tubbs
fire fighting more than a dozen fires in the area, whereas the Thomas
fire is currently the greatest threat to Southern California. The Creek
fire, near Sylmar, was at 11,000 acres early Tuesday afternoon.
There are no confirmed fatalities in the Thomas fire as of 2 p.m., authorities said.
Southern California has been under red-flag weather conditions
since Monday, with “the strongest and longest duration Santa Ana wind
event we have seen so far this season” expected through at least
Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
The dry, gusty Santa Ana winds will continue for at least the next three days, the National Weather Service said.
"Generally,
it's awful fire weather today, tomorrow and Thursday," said Forecaster
Ryan Kittell. "The winds we're seeing right now are … plenty strong to
drive a fire."
It
doesn't matter that the winds are relatively cool compared to typical
Santa Anas because wind gusts are so powerful and dry, he said.
Chino
Valley firefighters fight to save a home along Cobblestone Drive near
Foothill Road in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
1 / 48
Ventura
County fire officials reported Monday night that one person was killed
in a traffic accident on a road closed due to the Thomas fire. But at
about 6 a.m. Tuesday, authorities said no fatalities were confirmed —
although they added that one dog had died.
At least 1,000 homes in Ventura, Santa Paula and Ojai were evacuated.
More
than 260,000 customers in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties lost power
as the fire raged. By noon Tuesday 15,000 homes in Ventura and Santa
Barbara counties were still without power, said Southern California
Edison spokesman Paul Netter.
More homes may lose power as the fires continue to spread, and some may be without power for days, Netter said.
"We're
encouraging conservation because of the power fluctuations," Netter
said. "Every little bit helps when it comes to maintaining power as we
restore it."
Just
north of Foothill Boulevard, along Hilltop Drive, Mark Urban, 53, took a
moment around 7 a.m. to inspect the front of his home, where at least
two spot fires had broken out; one was put out by firefighters and the
other by himself, using a garden hose.
Urban
said he and his wife began evacuating their Spanish-style home around
11 p.m. and headed to the Ventura fairgrounds. Around 1 a.m., though, he
returned to grab more belongings and decided to stay to defend their
home with a hose, he said.
"I just kept hitting the hot spots," Urban said.
A
crowd gathered Tuesday morning in the street at the top of a hilly
Santa Paula neighborhood, watching as black smoke and flames crept along
a tawny ridge near dozens of white, tan and pink houses.
Gusts ripped red flowers off a bougainvillea and sent flames billowing upward a few hundred feet from houses along Coronado Circle.
Doctors
and nurses in scrubs who had stepped out of nearby Santa Paula Hospital
put on face masks and pulled out cellphones to record the fire.
The
hospital was closed Tuesday to incoming patients and all surgeries were
canceled, according to a doctor and a technician who were not
authorized to talk to the media. About 16 patients remained in the
28-bed facility and could be quickly evacuated once fire officials give
the word, they said.
Beverly Moore stood on 10th Street with a black hoodie drawn tightly over her head to block the strong winds, watching the fire.
Moore
moved to Coronado Circle about eight years ago, when the neighborhood
was new. She knew fire was a risk, because the street opens onto
hundreds of acres of open space that is covered in dry brush, she said.
Even so, she wasn't prepared to watch the fire come so close to her
house.
In her rush to leave home, Moore said, she'd grabbed her violin, but forgot her jewelry and her daughter's guitar.
Police
cars blocked the street, stopping residents from returning to their
homes. A Santa Paula police officer allowed Moore back in, telling her
to hurry.
She
returned 15 minutes later, smiling, her jewelry in a brown shopping
bag, her father's will in a manila envelope, and her daughter's guitar
slung across her back.
"It's all she wanted," Moore said. "I've done what I could."
By late Tuesday morning, evacuees were beginning to learn the fate of their homes.
Darlene
Gonzalez and her husband scrambled to evacuate Monday by 6 p.m., just
after they got off work. They fled with clothes, passports and other
paperwork, but left her husband's most cherished possessions in the
garage: A 1959 Chevrolet El Camino, and a 1928 Ford ("A Bonnie and Clyde
car," Gonzalez said).
"You work so hard all your life, and now this," Gonzalez said. "But what can you do? Fire is fire."
At least two buildings on the campus of Vista Del Mar Hospital burned down as the Thomas fire ravaged the canyons above Ventura.
The
hospital treats adolescents and adults with mental health issues, and
among its specialties is treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Patients
were evacuated and by Tuesday morning, two buildings were completely
destroyed by flames, with the rubble of stucco walls and clay roofs
smoldering under the smoky sky.
"There's
a huge need for this facility," said Roger Case, 76, explaining that it
welcomes patients from Fresno to the San Fernando Valley. Case is an
advisory board member.
In addition to serving about 80 patients at a time, the facility also employs about 230 people.
Many have found their way to evacuation centers, waiting out the fire.
Inside
the shelter at the Ventura County fairgrounds Tuesday morning, some
volunteers handed out water and bananas to evacuees who spent the night.
Others grabbed the green cots that crowded the concrete floor and
walked them over to the larger livestock shelter where the evacuees were
being moved.
Rudy
Avendano and his family voluntarily evacuated their home on Richmond
Road around 3 a.m. His daughter, Felicia, had woken up in the middle of
the night to use the bathroom when she saw flashing lights on the
street.
She stepped outside and asked the police if they were being evacuated.
"We strongly suggest it," she remembered the officer saying.
She
quickly woke her parents and two sisters. They grabbed the items they
packed earlier in the day — clothes, blankets, documents, photo albums
and a mandolin — and jumped into their cars with their pitbull-Labrador
mix, Bear.
Avendano, 60, said he saw a continuous ribbon of orange flames licking the hills on the drive to the fairgrounds.
Throughout
the drive, he said, he thought of the extra food he should have thrown
in the car. A gallon of Sunny Delight and a box of crackers from Trader
Joe's weren't enough, he said with a laugh.
Parvini, Nelson, Vives and Hamilton reported from Ventura County, Kohli from Los Angeles. Times staff reporters Jaclyn Cosgrove, Alene Tchekmedyian and Joseph Serna contributed to this report. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
UPDATES:
5:20 p.m.: This article was updated with latest containment information.
4:50 p.m.: This article was updated with acreage information.
2:50 p.m.: This article was updated with acreage information
1:40 p.m.: This article was updated with information about power outages, evacuations and issues with fire hydrants.
11:30 a.m.: This article was updated with information about the state of emergency announcement and evacuees.
10:00 a.m.: This article was updated with information about firefighting efforts, power outages and evacuations.
8:10 a.m.: This article was updated with information about acreage burned and firefighting efforts.
6:20 a.m.: This article was updated with information about a reported animal fatality and a hospital evacuation.
4:15 a.m.: This article was updated with interviews with Ventura residents.
3:55 a.m.: This article was updated with new numbers on acreage burned, structures destroyed and people evacuated.
3:40 a.m.: This article was updated with a new evacuation number and an interview with the son of evacuees.
3:10 a.m.: This article was updated with new acreage-burned numbers and a report of an injury to a firefighter.
2:10 a.m.: This article was updated with updated acreage-burned figures and reports of homes on fire.
1:50 a.m.: This article was updated with interviews with Ventura residents.
1 a.m.: This
article was updated with information from Southern California Edison
and an interview with a resident outside the evacuation zone.
Dec. 5, 12:05 a.m.: This article was updated with information about power outages and an interview with a Santa Paula resident.
11:10 p.m.: This article was updated to reflect two structures have been destroyed.
10:35 p.m.: This article was updated with information about power outages.
10:25 p.m.: This article was updated with a larger acreage-burned number and new evacuations.
10:10 p.m.: This article was updated with more information about the emergency response to the fire.
9:40 p.m.: This article was updated with a larger acreage-burned number.
9:10 p.m.: This article was updated with more information from fire officials.
8:55 p.m.: This article was updated with a new acreage-burned number.
8:15 p.m.: This article was updated with information about evacuations.
7:55 p.m.: This article was updated with a new acreage-burned number.
This article was originally published on Dec. 4 at 7:10 p.m.
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