4 Small Brush Fires Burn About 9 Acres

More than 100 Forest Service and Ventura County firefighters contained a small wildfire four miles north of Fillmore on Tuesday night, one of a series of four small brush fires to break out in the county.

By early evening, the fire had consumed about five acres of sparse oak and heavy brush off Squaw Flat Road near Goodenough Road not far from Los Padres National Forest, U. S. Forest Service spokesman Earl Clayton said.

Nine engines, three hand crews and a helicopter were dispatched to the blaze. No structures were threatened, but firefighters were concerned about several oil wells in the area, Clayton said. The cause of the fire was unknown.

A brush fire sparked by fireworks was contained in Simi Valley after it scorched about three acres, Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman Sandi Wells said. The blaze broke out about 4:24 p.m. near Black Avenue and Walnut Street and was extinguished by 5:20 p.m.

Investigators found pieces from the fireworks, but had no suspects late Tuesday, Wells said.

An earlier wildfire in Los Padres forest blackened about an acre of grass several miles north of Lake Casitas before it was extinguished, firefighters said. The cause of that fire is under investigation.

Clayton said that firefighters were fortunate that winds Tuesday afternoon were light and that relatively high moisture levels remaining in the heavy brush helped slow the fire’s spread.

County firefighters contained a fourth small brush fire near Piru on Tuesday morning, Wells said. No structures were threatened.