Clearing Brush Eased Firefighting Effort

Firefighters mopped up remnants of a 25-acre fire in Wildwood Canyon Park on Wednesday morning after the arson blaze came within 200 yards of Velarde Drive homes before being extinguished about midnight Tuesday.

Earlier aggressive brush-clearing efforts helped firefighters quickly quell the wildfire, which was ignited Tuesday afternoon in a canyon bordered by expensive hilltop homes, officials said.

The area also has been subject to controlled burns, said Sandi Wells, a spokeswoman with the Ventura County Fire Department.

“Because of the steepness of the canyon and the severity of the fire danger, it’s one of the few places in the county that is like the Oakland Hills,” she said. “We feel all that brush clearance by us and by the residents did make a definite difference.”

The 1991 Oakland Hills fire killed more than 20 people and destroyed hundreds of homes.

The Fire Department has hosted community meetings to communicate the fire danger to residents, Wells said. Many homeowners have voluntarily replaced their highly combustible wood-shake roofs with more fire retardant material.

Meanwhile, officials continue to search for the person responsible for the fire.

“We don’t have a suspect,” Wells said. “We have had more arson fires this year than I can recall in the last eight years and that’s a real concern.”

The blaze began on a heavily traveled trail near a park tepee, but arson investigators are not revealing what evidence was found.

Anyone with information is asked to call 378-7003.