Ventura County Fire Contained After Charring 10,000 Acres

A Ventura County fire that blackened more than 10,000 acres of brush in the hills north of Camarillo was contained Tuesday afternoon, and fire officials said they expected the blaze to be fully controlled by today.

The fire was ignited Monday morning by a downed power line on the southern slope of 2,200-foot-high South Mountain, which separates Camarillo and Santa Paula, Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Dan Spykerman said.

Although the fire at one point Monday threatened more than 50 homes on the southern slopes of the mountain, no buildings were burned and no injuries were reported by late Tuesday, Spykerman said. Several ranchers reported minor losses to citrus and avocado groves in the fire, the largest in Ventura County this year, he said.

‘Had No Place to Go’

The fire, whipped by Santa Ana winds of up to 50 m.p.h. on Monday, moved rapidly to the western end of South Mountain and then “had no place to go,” Spykerman said. South Mountain is flanked on three sides by large agricultural tracts.

On the north side of the range, the fire reached the floor of the Las Posas Valley and at some points burned to the Santa Clara River.

By Tuesday afternoon, the winds had died down to 18 to 22 m.p.h., enabling firefighters to contain the blaze, Spykerman said.

More than 700 Ventura County firefighters, split into two shifts, worked through the night to control the fire. Crews from the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the state Department of Forestry assisted.