Piru residents evacuated

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Fast-moving flames have pushed the Ranch fire to within a mile of Piru in Ventura County, prompting evacuation orders for its 1,200 residents, authorities said. Several foothill neighborhoods in Fillmore to the west also were being evacuated as a precaution, said Capt. Barry Parker of the Ventura County Fire Department.

The fire had chewed through more than 12,000 acres of heavy brush in forest lands north of the populated communities, Parker said. Highway 126 was closed between Main Street in Piru and Chiquita Canyon to the east because of smoke and the need to get in state firefighting equipment, Parker said.

‘It’s so smoky right now you can’t see the road,’’ he said.

Officials are intent on protecting homes and keeping the blaze north of the highway, Parker said. If it jumps the 126, southerly winds would blow the fire toward densely populated Simi Valley and possibly Moorpark, fire officials said.

An evacuation shelter has been set up at the Fillmore Veterans Memorial Building, 511 2nd St. Residents with livestock can take them to the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

-- Kay Saillant