A firefighter prepares to put out flames while battling the Mountain Fire on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in Santa Paula, California.

Noah Berger/AP

hide title

change title

Noah Berger/AP

CAMARILLO, Calif. – While high winds were predicted to ease, a wildfire in Southern California destroyed 132 structures, mostly homes, in less than two days, fire officials said Thursday.

The fire started Wednesday morning in Ventura County and has grown to about 32 square miles at 5% containment. The cause has not been determined.

Ten people were injured during the fire, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said. Many suffered smoke inhalation or other non-life-threatening injuries.

Fire officials said 88 other structures were also damaged but did not say whether they were burned or affected by water or smoke.

Nearly 10,000 people remained under evacuation orders Thursday as the Mountain Fire continued to threaten nearly 3,500 structures in suburban neighborhoods, farms and agricultural fields around Camarillo in Ventura County.

County fire officials said crews working the steep terrain with the support of helicopters dropping water were focused on protecting homes on hillsides on the fire’s northeastern border near the city of Santa Paula, home to more than 30,000 people.

Kelly Barton watched firefighters sift through charred debris on her parents’ 20-year-old farm, overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the Camarillo hills. Crews uncovered two safes and their parents’ collection of old door knockers, which were undamaged amid the destruction.

“This was their forever retirement home,” Barton said Thursday. “They are in their 70s now and need to start over.”

When his father returned home an hour after the evacuation on Wednesday, he found the house already destroyed. Barton said he managed to get four of his vintage cars to safety, but two of them, including a Chevy Nova he’s owned since he was 18, burned to a “fry.”

Kelly Barton, left, is hugged by a family friend as she arrives at her parents’ fire-ravaged property following the Mountain Fire on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, in Camarillo, Calif.

Ethan Swoope/AP

hide title

change title

Ethan Swoope/AP

Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to remain alert for rapidly spreading fires, power outages and downed trees during the latest round of Santa Ana winds.

Santa Anas are dry, warm, gusty northeasterly winds that blow from the interior of Southern California toward the coast and offshore, moving in the opposite direction of the normal overland flow carrying moist air from the Pacific. They usually appear in the autumn months and continue throughout the winter and into early spring.

Ariel Cohen, the National Weather Service’s principal meteorologist in Oxnard, said Santa Ana winds had diminished in lower elevations, but gusty winds continued in higher elevations Thursday evening.

Red flag warnings indicating high fire danger conditions have ended in the area outside the Santa Susana Mountains, Cohen said. Warnings in the mountains will end by 11:00 on Friday.

Cohen added that Santa Ana winds are expected to return by early to mid-next week.

The Mountain Fire was burning in an area that has seen some of California’s most destructive fires in years. The fire quickly grew from half a square mile to more than 16 square miles in just under five hours Wednesday. An area of ​​approximately 32 square miles was mapped Thursday evening, and Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the county.

Marcus Eriksen, who owns a farm in Santa Paula, said that although piles of compost and sawdust were engulfed, firefighters kept embers from spreading to his home, vehicles and other structures.

Eriksen said on Thursday that the flames had reached a height of 30 meters and were advancing rapidly. He was overwhelmed by their speed and brutality, but the firefighters continued to fight to save as much of his property as possible. Thanks to their work, “we dodged a big bullet,” he said.

Sharon Boggie said the fire came within 200 feet of her home in Santa Paula.

“We thought we were going to lose it at 7:00 this morning,” Boggie said as white smoke billowed through the neighborhood Thursday. She initially escaped with her two dogs, while her sister and nephew stayed behind. Hours later, he said, the situation looked better.

The Ventura County Department of Education announced that more than a dozen school districts and campuses in the county were closed Thursday, with several more expected to close Friday.

Utilities in California have begun shutting down power to equipment during high winds and extreme fire danger following a series of large and deadly wildfires sparked by power lines and other infrastructure in recent years.

Southern California Edison shuts off power to nearly 70,000 customers in five counties due to increased risk said thursday. Edison spokeswoman Gabriela Ornelas could not immediately answer whether power was out in the area where the Mountain Fire broke out.

The wildfires burned in the same areas as other recent devastating inferno fires, including the 2018 Woolsey Fire near Los Angeles, which killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes, and the 2017 Thomas Fire, which burned more than a thousand homes and other structures in Ventura. Santa Barbara counties. Southern California Edison paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after its equipment was blamed for both fires.