Wind-Driven Fire Scorches 10,000 Acres

A brush fire driven by Santa Ana winds gusting up to 50 m.p.h. burned more than 10,000 acres north of Camarillo in Ventura County on Monday, threatening about 50 ranch homes.

More than 200 firefighters, aided by six retardant-dropping tanker planes and two helicopters, prevented any homes or buildings from burning, said the county’s assistant fire chief, Don Ellis. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters hoped to contain the blaze by late this afternoon. Ellis said he expected it to consume at least 12,000 acres.

The fire broke out just before 11 a.m. near Bradley Road about four miles north of Camarillo and spread north over South Mountain to the banks of the Santa Clara River. A wind from the west that flows up the river channel pushed the fire toward the east until the prevailing Santa Ana winds of about 20 to 25 m.p.h. from the northeast drove it back to the south, said Dana De Diana, information officer for the Ventura County Fire Department.

The area contains scattered citrus ranches, she said.

Ellis said most of the threatened homes were in the area of La Loma Avenue.

“The main problem has been people losing their trees,” said Steve Hammer, 45, who grows oranges and lemons. He said the fire consumed a row of trees only 20 yards from his house but that the Fire Department “had a fire truck right here--there was one for everybody’s house.”

The force fighting the fire included 22 engine crews from Ventura County, 10 from the Los Angeles County Fire Department and 10 from the California Department of Forestry.

The cause of the fire was not known.

Meanwhile, Orange County firefighters were busy Monday putting out blazes in Tustin, Fullerton and La Habra.

In Tustin, it took 47 firefighters nearly an hour to put out a fire that destroyed the second level of a two-story home and briefly ignited the roofs of two neighboring houses. There were no injuries in the 4:09 p.m. blaze, although fire officials said damage to the home on Bryce Lane would be “considerable.”

Firefighters responded to the three-alarm blaze with nine engines, three trucks, one air utility unit and one paramedic unit. Ron Blaul, a spokesman for the Orange County Fire Department said the home’s first floor suffered only water damage and that firefighters were able to contain sparks from the blaze that spread briefly to adjoining homes.

Residents of the house were offered emergency shelter by the Orange County Red Cross. Blaul said that the fire, of unknown origin, is under investigation.

In Fullerton, a home was destroyed early Monday by flames that started in the garage and then spread, fire officials said. The family inside the home in the 2200 block of Pinecrest Court escaped unharmed, although a firefighter suffered a minor injury, officials said.

The cause of the 1:25 a.m. fire has not been determined, but damage to the home was estimated at from $200,000 to $250,000, said John Thomas of the Fullerton Fire Department. Seven city and county fire companies responded to the fire and brought it under control 30 minutes later, he added.

Later in the afternoon, firefighters from La Habra and other Los Angeles and Orange County area departments contained a brush fire that burned 15 acres at a Standard Oil Co. oil field but did not damage any surrounding homes or the company’s adjacent research facility.

The 1:50 p.m. blaze broke out at the company’s oil field east of Beach Boulevard and south of Imperial Highway, officials said. About 40 firefighters from La Habra, the Orange County and Los Angeles County Fire departments, Brea, Fullerton and Buena Park responded. Fire officials said the blaze was contained by 3 p.m.