Blaze Burns 80 Acres in National Forest : Fire: The location is so remote that firefighters are dropped off by helicopter. A smaller blaze scorches part of Foster Park.

Two brush fires broke out in northwestern Ventura County on Sunday, one burning eight acres in Foster Park and another consuming 80 acres in an area of the Los Padres National Forest so remote that firefighters had to be dropped off by helicopter.

The larger blaze was spotted shortly after 10:30 a.m. about 18 miles northwest of Ojai in the Dick Smith Wilderness Area of the Los Padres National Forest, about 2 1/2 miles west of the Maricopa Highway.

Forest Service spokeswoman Mary Bowman said engine and hand crews had to be transported to the remote area by helicopter.

“There are no roads in the area at all,” Bowman said.

Although the Forest Service assigned four hand crews to fight the fire, many of the workers had to finish battling other brush fires around the state before they could go to the blaze, dubbed the Rancho Fire, said Forest Service spokesman Gerry Little.

“It’s taking time to get people,” he said Sunday afternoon. “Everybody’s spread so much throughout California.”

While waiting for the other hand crews, the Forest Service’s regular employees and engine companies managed to keep most of the blaze from spreading, Little said.

They were helped by slow winds of only 8 to 10 miles per hour, he said. Although temperatures ranged from 95 to 100 degrees, no heat-related injuries were reported among firefighters.

The cause of the fire was unknown.

The hand crews of 10 to 20 people each were expected by nightfall and were to work through the evening and possibly the night trying to contain the blaze.

In addition to the hand crews, forest officials were battling the fire with retardant dropped from air tankers and water dropped from helicopters.

The smaller brush fire was reported at 4:21 p.m. in an abandoned orchard at Los Cabos Lane and Floral Drive, just east of Ventura Avenue and the Maricopa Highway in the unincorporated area of Foster Park, Ventura County Fire Department officials said.

The fire scorched about eight acres before it was contained at about 6 p.m.