A Southern California wildfire has destroyed 132 structures, mostly homes, in less than two days, fire officials said as raging winds were forecast to ease.
The fire started on Wednesday morning (local time) in Ventura County and has grown to about 83sq kilometres at 5% containment. Its cause has not been determined.
Ten people have been injured in the course of the fire, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said. Most of them suffered from smoke inhalation or other non-life-threatening injuries.
Fire officials said 88 other structures were damaged but did not specify whether they had been burned or affected by water or smoke damage.
Some 10,000 people remained under evacuation orders as the Mountain Fire continued to threaten some 3500 structures in suburban neighborhoods, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo in Ventura County.
County fire officials said 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.
Kelly Barton, left, is hugged by a family friend after arriving at her parents' fire-ravaged property in the aftermath of the Mountain Fire (Source: Associated Press)
Kelly Barton watched as firefighters sifted through the charred rubble of her parents' ranch home of 20 years in the hills of Camarillo with a view of the Pacific Ocean. The crews uncovered two safes and her parents' collection of vintage door knockers undamaged among the devastation.
"This was their forever retirement home," Barton said on Thursday. "Now in their 70s, they have to start over."
Her father returned to the house an hour after evacuating on Wednesday to find it already destroyed. He was able to move four of their vintage cars to safety but two — including a Chevy Nova he'd had since he was 18 — burned to "toast", Barton said.
A firefighter puts out flames at a home destroyed by the Mountain Fire in California. (Source: Associated Press)
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 autumn months and continue through winter and into early spring.
The Mountain Fire was burning in a region that has seen some of California's most destructive fires over the years. The fire swiftly grew from less than 1.2sq kilometres to more than 41sq kilometres in little more than five hours on Wednesday. By Thursday evening it was mapped at about 83sq kilometres and Gov. Gavin Newsom had proclaimed a state of emergency in the county.
A fire burns a house in the Mountain fire, California. (Source: Associated Press)
Marcus Eriksen, who has a farm in Santa Paula, said firefighters kept embers from spreading to his home, his vehicles and other structures even as piles of compost and wood chips were engulfed.
The flames were up to 9m tall and moving quickly, Eriksen said. Their speed and ferocity overwhelmed him, but the firefighters kept battling to save as much as they could on his property. Thanks to their work, "we dodged a bullet, big time", he said.
Sharon Boggie said the fire came within 60m of her house in Santa Paula.
"We thought we were going to lose it at 7.00 this morning," Boggie said on Thursday as white smoke billowed through the neighbourhood. She initially fled with her two dogs while her sister and nephew stayed behind. Hours later the situation seemed better, she said.
Flames from the Mountain Fire leap along a hillside as a horse stands in an enclosure at Swanhill Farms in Moorpark (Source: Associated Press)
The wildfires burned in the same areas of other recent destructive infernos, including the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which killed three people and destroyed 1600 homes near Los Angeles, and the 2017 Thomas Fire, which burned more than a thousand homes and other structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Southern California Edison has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after its equipment was blamed for both blazes.
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