Golfers Say Whiff of Smoke, Wisp of Gray Presaged Disaster : Firestorm: Witnesses to the beginning of the blaze that was ignited near Los Robles Golf Course watched the making of ‘a roaring inferno.’

Robert Murray has learned one sure thing from his 26 years in the Conejo Valley: A wisp of smoke in the Santa Monica Mountains means trouble.

“We know that’s serious,” said Murray, 73.

The retired Army officer from Thousand Oaks is one of four golfers who witnessed the birth of Tuesday’s inferno. The blaze, which began near the 16th green of Los Robles Golf Course, has ravaged more than 37,500 acres of brush and cost more than $2 million to battle. Authorities have ruled the fire arson.

Since last week’s conflagration began, Los Robles has been the sight of much scrutiny.

Fire Chief George Lund said a golfer on the 16th green saw a motorcyclist speeding from the golf course shortly after the fire was set. Officials are searching for that cyclist for questioning.

And two golfers who were at the scene wonder if air tankers responded quickly enough to the blaze.

Murray and two of the other golfers said Saturday that they first smelled smoke on the third hole sometime before 1:30 p.m.

As they climbed a hill on the fourth fairway, the golfers witnessed a wisp of smoke about 400 yards away for the first time. “Being from the area,” Murray said, “we knew what that meant.”

At the time, the temperature was in the 90-degree range and the wind was blowing at a robust 30 to 40 m.p.h., Moore said.

“You get a helluva feeling because when the winds are blowing like that, you know it’s going to go to the ocean because there’s nothing to stop it,” Moore said.

The golfers never reported what they saw. “We were isolated out there,” said Edward Pursey, 82. “There were no phones.”

By the fifth hole, they said, smoke began billowing from the canyon some 400 yards away and, every now and then, they could see flames licking up from ridges south of the golf course.

“We turned around and it had gone up the canyon like a wildfire,” Pursey said.

By that time, they said, they could hear sirens. Another golfer playing on the 16th green reported the fire at 1:19 p.m., authorities said.

The golfers said the thick black smoke and an occasional 50-foot flame darting out of the canyon offered a frightening scene.

“That thing was a roaring inferno in 15 minutes,” Murray said.

“It makes the human being seem helpless. And then you wonder about all the beasties, the squirrels and things.”

Although the golfers said helicopters showed up quickly after they first heard the sirens, the choppers only flew over the fire instead of dousing it.

“To me, our fire-protection service during this dang fire season should have airplanes on the runway filled with retardant, and they didn’t,” Murray said.

Ventura County Fire Chief George Lund said water-carrying choppers arrived 15 minutes after the fire was reported, but air tankers with fire retardant took about two hours to arrive because they came from Goleta and Lancaster.

Robert H. Meyer, head pro at the course, said a group of 40 Los Angeles FBI agents was playing the course when the fire was lighted. Even after the firefighters began battling the blaze, most golfers kept playing the course, he said.

“The golf course is a natural firebreak,” Meyer said.

Contributing to coverage of the fire were Times staff writers Fred Alvarez, Dwayne Bray, Sara Catania, Daryl Kelley, Jeff Meyers, Mack Reed and Constance Sommer. Also contributing were correspondents Maia Davis, Julie Fields and Matthew Mosk.