Maurice Kerr, a citizen of Caramarillo Heights, inspected his burned-out home on Thursday night.
The 68-year-old said he tried his hardest to stop the wind-driven Mountain flames, which started flames streaming down his house shortly after it started Wednesday night, with the surrounding dust also molting and the weather choking.
But facing , 50- to 60-mph winds, the lone fire hose he was using — hooked up to his indoor pool — to try to beat back the flames was n’t enough. In the most serious Santa Ana weather event to reach Southern California in years, neither did the firefighters who came to his aid and pulled him out as flames began to overwhelm the 4,800-square-foot ranch-style house, destroying his and dozens of different residences.
” I suddenly had to nozzle myself down to put myself out”, he said.
Officials reported on Thursday that the fire’s devastating toll included 132 lost properties and 88 broken properties, making the Mountain fire one of the region’s most destructive fires in a while.
The , flames had grown , to more than 20, 400 acres by Thursday evening, forcing thousands to evacuate and straining native solutions. The onshore breezes that the National Weather Service deemed “particularly dangerous” pushed it west into the valley areas around Camarillo and Moorpark.
According to authorities, the fire’s flames ignited new blazes up to 212 miles before the principal fire line. Containment was at 5 % as of 6 p. m.
Earlier Thursday, officials issued additional , removal requests  , for people in the Santa Paula location, just north of the Santa Clara River. They warned that , more than 30, 000 persons live , in the probable course of the fireplace and needed to be prepared for additional warnings or orders as strong winds remained a problem.
Gov. On Thursday, Gary Newsom met with first responders and visited the damaged areas. He declared a state of emergency in Ventura County around 5 p.m. to aid in the mobilization of solutions to stop the quickly-moving flames.
More than 5, 000 properties, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, had an evacuation order or notice.
The flames “remains energetic, and it remains dangerous”, Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said.
Crews battled the flames for a long time before returning to the atmosphere on Thursday after a long day of intense flamefighting. Ventura County Fire Capt. said that paramedics were concentrating on the hot spots between Bridges 118 and 126 in the Santa Susana Mountains. Trevor Johnson.
” It’s rugged, rocky surface that only our finest paramedics may even access”, Johnson said. Nevertheless, he was evident that, with mutual support and their own personnel,” we got the right people in the right locations”.
As flames erupted in various places on Wednesday evening, firefighters had to use more resources.
At a news conference on Thursday, Gardner stated,” We put plenty of fire vehicles on the program last evening, hundreds pumping all night long.”
The captain once acknowledged that” we did run out of water, higher up in the heights,” and then went on to say that there were times when “water force was either decreased or water flowing was decreased.”
Firefighters on the ground claimed that sometimes water source interruptions prevented them from fighting burns.
In Camarillo Heights — the premium community home to a significant portion of top citizens, including Kerr— the remains of burnt houses dotted the landscape, apparently engulfed by strange, off-shooting embers. On Old Coach Drive, 17 homes were completely destroyed, on Cerro Crest Drive, another 19. A chimney and a burned washing machine were the only items left in one Valley Vista Drive home.
Although little else survived, Kerr said he was grateful that he and his wife managed to survive. He pointed to a sizable safe that was perched on its side and said he was waiting for passports and watches to recover.
He claimed that they enjoyed gazing at sunset from what was their deck before it became nothing more than a few charred support posts. His avocado trees are now charred black, and his vegetable garden’s raised beds were so burned they could n’t be recognized.
” It got even my garden”, he said.
The weather service on Wednesday issued a “particularly dangerous situation” red flag alert, warning of “widespread, extreme fire weather conditions” across southwest California. Since 2020, there has n’t been that high of an alert in the Los Angeles area.
But forecasters Thursday  , predicted , slightly better conditions compared with the day prior, with expectations that winds would not be as strong as on Wednesday and would decrease more quickly in the afternoon. The weather service reported that a typical red flag warning was in effect throughout the fire area through 6 p.m.
Nevertheless, the dangerous conditions sparked multiple regional fires on both days.
According to Cal Fire, the Broad fire started near Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on Wednesday morning and burned 50 acres before firefighters arrived at 98 % containment by Thursday afternoon. According to the L.A. Times, the Frenchman fire started at noon on Thursday and burned about 50 acres of the Angeles National Forest before firefighters stopped it around 2: 30 p.m. County Fire Department.
Then, just before 1 p. m., the , Santa Lucia fire , sparked in Santa Barbara County and burned 150 acres. According to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, forward progress was stopped and 5 % containment was achieved around 3:10 p.m.
Officials had feared the opposite because winds sprayed flames across a region that was ripe for burning and had extremely dry brush and vegetation.
According to Thomas Shoots, a representative for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, strong winds can quickly push fire up hills and cause explosive fire behavior. On Wednesday, firefighters observed long-range spotting in a mix of urban development and brush-covered urban areas.
” It creates a kind of disastrous recipe”, Shoots said.
This is the second time in recent months that Southern California has faced , multiple blazes during high-wind , events. In September, the 44, 000-acre Line fire, 56, 000-acre Bridge fire and 23, 500-acre Airport fire all ignited within a few days of one another.
Darren Kettle, chief executive of Metrolink, was among the evacuees— and among those who lost a home to the fire.
His house is in Las Posas Estates, near the hills of Camarillo Heights. In case an evacuation notice came in, he and his wife realized the fire was moving in their direction early on Wednesday. It soon did.
” When I left the house, I saw smoke and flames and it looked like it was blowing in a different direction”, Kettle said. It simply places one ember in a bad spot.
Later, people started to send pictures and videos that showed Kettle’s home, and those of several neighbors, burning. The house was lost, according to a neighbor.
” The only thing left standing of our house is the two chimneys”, he said. ” It was just, my heart dropped to my stomach. It’s just shocking, traumatic. … Speechless. Just the range of emotions”.
Officials say the fire started near Bradley and Balcom Canyon roads in a remote area north of Somis, but the cause is still being investigated.
According to Southern California Edison, almost 70, 000 utility customers in Southland were experiencing power cuts on Thursday morning due to “heightened wildfire risk.” About a third of the shutoffs were initiated in Ventura County, but power was also cut across Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and Orange counties.
But by Thursday afternoon, the utility was slowly reenergizing lines and planned to have most back to full capacity by Friday, said Dave Eisenhauer, an SCE spokesperson. At 3 p. m. about 45, 000 customers still had power shutoff.
The majority of the region’s red flag and high-wind warnings were scheduled to end on Thursday evening, but a typical red flag warning was scheduled to last until Friday morning for the Ventura County mountains, the Interstate 5 corridor, and the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains.
Santa Barbara County Fire Chief According to Hugh Montgomery, his team had some difficulties, but they were able to save about a dozen burning homes in Camarillo.
When the hydrants started to flow dry,” We were inside of a structure fire and making good headway.” ” I believe that everyone who sips water off of the system is just so exhausted.
” It’s very unfortunate that people are losing homes and their belongings, “he added”, but from what we’ve heard people are getting out safely, and that’s the most important thing.”
Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said he was unaware of anyone who was missing, and that only minor injuries were reported from the fire.
On Wednesday, about 100 people had slept in a shelter at Padre Serra Parish after the American Red Cross and other aid workers set up an evacuation shelter.
Linda Elmo, an evacuee, said the flames moved so rapidly she and her husband had little time to flee. A firefighter knocked on the door, urging her and her husband to” go, go, go!”
” It happened so fast,” Elmo said.
Local authorities , issued air quality alerts , because of smoke and ash from the Mountain fire for much of Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Dozens of Ventura County schools , were closed , Thursday because of the fire, and several are closed through Friday.
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