Season’s 1st Brush Fires Tax County Resources : Flames: Two blazes, begun three minutes apart, are contained as outside crews are called in to help local firefighters. Arson is suspected in one.

The first substantial brush fires of the 1994 fire season began within three minutes of one another Saturday, as Ventura County firefighters stretched resources to extinguish the east county blazes.

Firefighters fought a 30-acre fire near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and a 10-acre blaze on the east side of the Conejo Grade in Newbury Park for about four hours before the fires were contained late Saturday.

Fire officials said an arsonist sparked the smaller fire, which was at the end of Old Conejo Road about a mile from a mobile home park.

The cause of the larger blaze, in an unincorporated part of the county near Tierra Rejada and Madera roads, was unknown, officials said.

Tierra Rejada Road was closed between Madera Road and the Moorpark Freeway for about an hour Saturday as five engines and three hand crews attempted to gain control of the blaze, sheriff’s officials said.

Fire officials said they faced a tough logistical situation for the first serious fires of the season. Crews were dispatched to the Newbury Park blaze at 1:40 p.m. and to the Tierra Rejada fire at 1:43.

“It was a very hectic afternoon,” said Vicki Crabtree, a Fire Department dispatcher. “We had to utilize the majority of our equipment and then call in other agencies to assist us.”

About 100 county firefighters came out to battle the two blazes, and crews from Oxnard, Point Mugu and Ventura crossed the Conejo Grade to cover for the overtaxed county stations.

One firefighter said the intensity of Saturday’s blazes made him feel as though it was already August.

“It was really dry out there and the grass burned real clean,” said Ron Lauer, a fire engineer from Ventura County Station 45, the first to respond to the Tierra Rejada incident. “It didn’t feel like the first fire of the season.”

Forecasters at the National Weather Service said the dry weather Saturday was likely to continue for the next several days. The high temperature in the Thousand Oaks area Saturday was 78 degrees.

The Newbury Park blaze sent smoke billowing across the Ventura Freeway for several hours Saturday. On Old Conejo Road, residents gathered to watch as a helicopter dropped water on hot spots that burned in patches on the hillside.

“It was close,” said Sue Anderson, 70, who could see the flames from her Old Conejo Road home. “I would venture to say they had 30 trucks up here.”

Anderson has lived in Newbury Park since 1952 and has seen numerous fires burn through the hilly areas surrounding her neighborhood, including last fall’s Green Meadow fire.

“I’ve seen a lot of fires,” Anderson said. “One a scale of 1 to 10, (Saturday’s) was about a 4.”

Fire officials said the Tierra Rejada fire briefly posed a threat to several nearby structures. Firefighters responding to that blaze said their initial fear was that it was heading straight for the Presidential Library.

“We talked about that as we were heading out there,” Lauer said. “It looked a lot like it would make a run for the library, which would have been rough. But by the time we got there it became clear that it was heading in a different direction.”

The fire did come within a mile of the library and half a mile of a nearby ranch, but fire officials said proper brush clearance and a quick response prevented any structures from being damaged.

Correspondent Tracy Wilson contributed to this report.