CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — Southern California firefighters made progress against a wildfire that has destroyed 132 structures, mostly homes, and that was fanned by fierce wind gusts that began easing Friday, allowing some people to return to sort through the charred remains of their homes.
Joey Parish returned to the site of his former home of more than 20 years in Camarillo Heights. All that was left was part of the burned-out steel frame.
“It’s tough, it’s really tough to know how to process the emotions,” he said. He had evacuated with his wife and their cat. “Neither one of us has been able to cry yet,” he said.
“What I have on my back is what I came out with,” he said. “My cellphone, but not even a charger.”
The Mountain Fire started Wednesday morning in Ventura County and had grown to 32 square miles. It was 7% contained Friday morning.
Some 10,000 people remained under evacuation orders Friday as the fire continued to threaten about 3,500 structures in suburban neighborhoods, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo in Ventura County.
At least 88 additional structures were damaged in addition to the 132 destroyed.
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, county fire officials said.
Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to be on watch for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees during the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds.
Santa Anas are dry, warm and gusty northeast winds that blow from the interior of Southern California toward the coast and offshore, moving in the opposite direction of the normal onshore flow that carries moist air from the Pacific. They typically occur during the fall months and continue through winter and into early spring.
The red flag warnings, indicating conditions for high fire danger, expired in the area.
Winds were already diminishing early Friday but forecasters said temperatures would warm, reaching maximum temperatures in the lower 80s, the National Weather Service said.
The Santa Anas are expected to return early-to-midweek next week, said Ariel Cohen, a National Weather Service’s meteorologist in Oxnard.
An air quality alert for harmful fine particle pollution was in effect from Friday morning until Saturday afternoon due to smoke from the wildfires.
More than a dozen school districts and campuses in Ventura County were closed Friday due to impacts from the fires, according to the county’s Office of Education.
