On the Waterfront : Temperatures in the 90s Send Stewing Residents to Pools, Creeks and Beaches

While the wretched went to work, the sensible went swimming Monday as a high-pressure system lingering over the region sent temperatures into the 80s and 90s across Ventura County for the third day in a row.

In the inland cities of Ojai, Fillmore and Piru, the mercury spiked into the 90s. Simi Valley reported a high of 89 degrees, while Thousand Oaks reached a relatively mild 83.

Forecasters attributed the onset of summer-like weather to a “very strong” dome of high pressure that extends from the eastern Pacific to the southern Rockies.

“California is right in the middle of it,” said Curtis Brack, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides weather forecasts for The Times.

The system is finally weakening, forecasters said, and by today temperatures should be a little cooler, dropping into the 70s. And the traditional June gloom--when fog and low clouds shroud the coastline--is on its way.

But as the sun baked the county Monday, relief seemed distant. Residents reached for the controls of their air conditioners or squirmed into their swimsuits and headed to beaches, pools and swimming holes to escape.

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In Thousand Oaks, both pools at the Daland Swimming School were packed with young children. Their mothers watched languidly from the shade of a tent set up next to the pool.

“She couldn’t wait to come here today with the heat,” said Pam Yudovin, pointing out her 3-year-old, Hannah, who was bobbing along happily in the arms of an instructor.

As a small boy scooted along the scorching cement and clambered quickly down the steps of the pool to dip his hot feet in the water, teacher Petia Mitchell explained that giving swimming lessons is actually not the ideal hot-weather job, appearances to the contrary. The glare of the sun off the cement and the sparkling water can bring on a nasty headache, she said.

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“It’s easy to get dehydrated, because even though you are in the water all day, you can’t drink the water,” Mitchell said.

At the Stuart Rose Air Conditioning Co. in Thousand Oaks, dispatcher Laura Haminger said she had been besieged by calls from people who tried to click on their air conditioners over the roasting weekend only to find they were out of coolant.

“We had 27 calls on the answering machine this morning,” Haminger said. “Basically, when it gets super-hot, people go to turn on their units. They realize they aren’t working and then, boom, we’re flooded.”

In Ojai, where a high of 92 degrees helped push ozone levels above state air-quality standards, a group of students from Villanova Preparatory School said they were distracted from their exams by visions of the swimming holes north of Ojai.

“It was hard to concentrate in such beautiful weather,” said Tiffany Gibbs, a sophomore who had just finished four hours of tests in a classroom with no air conditioning.

While Tiffany and her friends settled for Mexican food and icy sodas instead of swimming, Rebecca Adams, 21, of Ventura found the real thing.

“This is where it’s at,” she said, looking down at the inviting waters of Matilija Creek.

Holding her 3-year-old son, Michael, in her arms, Adams descended down a steep embankment to join a handful of parents and children splashing in the creek. Nearby, a group of teenage boys dived from high rocks into a clear, cool pool.

Hundreds fled toasty inland areas for the ocean breezes and far more comfortable temperatures at Ventura County beaches. Ojai residents Ron Acosta and his 4-year-old son, Tyler, spent the afternoon playing in the sand and taking dips in the 63-degree water at Buenaventura State Beach.

“It’s nice and cool down here,” said Acosta, a carpenter. “It was already 90 degrees when we left Ojai at 12:30 p.m.”

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But as bad as it was in Ventura County on Monday, others across Southern California had it much worse.

Hundreds of exhausted firefighters in Riverside County spent the day trying to control a handful of blazes that began over the weekend. The worst was a 650-acre fire near Lake Elsinore, which was started by a spark from a lawn mower blade and caused an estimated $492,000 in damage.

Other fires that were expected to be contained by Monday night were a 1,100-acre blaze near Vail Lake, south of Hemet; an 800-acre fire north of Moreno Valley, and a 200-acre fire near Hemet.

The mercury hit 102 in Woodland Hills and some schools in the San Fernando Valley sent out word Monday that they would dismiss students early today--which they could not do on Monday because they were not able to give parents 24 hours notice.

When the temperature hit the century mark in Valencia on Monday, bookkeeper Tracy Hoeper pulled her three children out of school and drove to the beach in Ventura.

“We let the kids play hooky today,” said Hoeper, slathering sunscreen on her 9-year-old son Jamie’s back. “It’s a real relief.”

Caltrans flagman Robert Holt probably wished he could have played hooky Monday. Posted just a mile up California 33 from where Adams and her son were bathing in the creek, Holt was consigned to conduct traffic around a road resurfacing crew with the midday sun beating straight down on him.

“We’re trying to get this done before it gets really hot,” Holt said. “It looks like it’s going to be a real scorcher this year.”

Pols is a Times staff writer and Helft is a correspondent. Staff writer Tom Gorman and correspondent Eric Wahlgren also contributed to this story.