Firefighters, National Guard Lend Aid to L.A.

Ventura County firefighters and members of the Channel Islands Air National Guard were mobilized Thursday to help Los Angeles area officials struggling to quell the city’s bloody riot.

But Ventura County Sheriff John V. Gillespie decided not to grant the requests of Los Angeles authorities to dispatch some of his deputies, because of the threat of lawlessness in Ventura County.

“Our deputies will remain here in the county until the threat is no longer present,” a sheriff’s spokesman said. Authorities reported no unusual incidents other than a couple of small fires set in remote locations.

Eight flight crews from the Channel Islands Air National Guard Base near Point Mugu spent much of the day transporting California Highway Patrol officers and National Guard members from Northern California to Los Angeles, officials said.

Maj. Michael Ritz, spokesman for the Channel Islands base, said the Guard members, flying aboard C-130 transport planes, left the airstrip south of Oxnard early Thursday to pick up the officers waiting at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento.

“We were asked by the governor to provide air transfer,” Ritz said. “We’ll probably be at it for some time.”

Early Thursday, 10 fire engines and about 30 crew members from the Ventura, Oxnard, Point Mugu and Ventura County fire departments were dispatched to Los Angeles County to cover for the engine companies sent to fight the blazes erupting throughout South Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, officials for the Ventura County Chapter of the American Red Cross said they were on standby in case Los Angeles County requested their help.

“We’re not approaching it any differently than we would have in an earthquake or fire,” said Martharuth Lefever, director of Red Cross emergency services. “It’s called mutual aid. Los Angeles County helped us during the flood, and we will help them whenever they need it.”

Sandi Wells, public information officer for the Ventura County Fire Department, added: “We take care of each other. If there’s a problem, you can count on your neighbor to be there.”

She said the county’s entire 360-member firefighting force was placed on alert in case more assistance was needed in Los Angeles or fires and violence erupted in Ventura County.

For most of the day, the county was quiet--except for a few incidents.

About 1 a.m., the Oxnard Police Department arrested three 21-year-old men believed to have been looting about $2,500 in merchandise from a store in Westwood.

Officers stopped the men at Courtland Street and Carlisle Court in Oxnard for a motor vehicle violation and noticed new clothing and watches with price tags still intact inside their truck.

Further investigation revealed clothing, boots, watches and duffel bags in the vehicle, also with the price tags still attached.

Police said the men at first said they had purchased the merchandise in San Diego. Later they told authorities that they had picked up the goods from the streets and alleys in a looted area of Los Angeles.

The men were arrested and booked into Ventura County Jail on suspicion of felony misappropriation of found property.

Merchants all over Ventura County decided to close before their usual time, some as early as 3 p.m., out of concern about looting, Sheriff’s Lt. Paul Anderson said. The Oaks mall, in Thousand Oaks, the Esplanade Shopping Center in Oxnard and the Buenaventura mall in Ventura, all of which are usually open until 9 p.m., were closed by 6 p.m., deputies said.

Evening classes at Ventura College were canceled due to a bomb threat.

“The Sheriff’s Department has contacted the jurors in the Rodney King case and assured them that the department stands ready to provide any assistance they may request,” Lt. Mike Brown said. “There has been no request made at this time.”

Wednesday and Thursday nights, county Fire Department officials responded to several dumpster fires in various parts of the county. A wooden guard post at Sycamore Cove Park near Pacific Coast Highway was burned down.

On Thursday, fire officials also received reports of smoke in the Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo, Wells said. The wind apparently pushed the smoke from the Los Angeles fires into the county, she said.

“You could smell the smoke very strongly,” she said.

Despite numerous telephone threats delivered to Simi Valley officials, authorities reported no vandalism at the East County Courthouse, where the four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in the Rodney G. King beating case. One of the assault counts lodged against one of the defendants ended in a hung jury.

Times correspondent Caitlin Rother contributed to this story.