Residents Flee as Fire Burns Ventura Hills

After a deceptive breather, Southern California’s trial by fire resumed late Friday as flames roared to life along the windy hills of Ventura, sending hillside residents fleeing from their homes and threatening this seaside city’s picturesque City Hall.

Whipped by 35-mph winds, the flames leaped along a ridgeline stretching from the municipal building to hillside residences in the eastern part of the city. Dozens of engine companies fanned out through neighborhoods and set up lines of protection against the backdrop of a nighttime sky glowing orange with flames and embers.

The blaze erupted about 7 p.m. near Grant Park, surging northeast and spreading across the city’s skyline, continuing to burn even as a light drizzle began to fall about 10 p.m. Fire officials said the cause of the fire, which had consumed at least 500 acres, appeared to be arson. No injuries were reported.

Late Friday night, the Orange County Fire Authority dispatched two strike teams to Ventura County to help battle the blaze. A spokeswoman said fire officials in Ventura made an emergency plea for the firefighters when the blaze began to burn out of control.

The Ventura fire made it clear that the threat throughout Southern California was not over, although forecasters had toned down earlier dire predictions of menacing winds for the weekend. Santa Ana winds are still expected throughout the region Sunday night.

In Orange County, fire units were being strategically placed throughout the area for quick response, said Capt. Scott Brown, a spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority.

In Malibu, about 2,070 firefighters--half the peak force used earlier this week--remained edgy as they worked to tame the Calabasas-Malibu area, which had charred 13,010 acres, destroyed eight residences and caused $1 million in damage.

About 85% of that fire was contained Friday within a 55-mile corridor cleared of brush by bulldozers and crews. But officials warned that gusts could blow embers a mile away and spark new flare-ups in brush that is the driest in 15 fire seasons.

“These offshore winds can be just as dangerous as the hot, dry Santa Ana winds. These winds will still drive a fire really quickly across dry brush,” said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Steve Valenzuela.

In all, 41,000 acres have been burned and 110 homes destroyed in blazes this week from Malibu to northern San Diego County, including 27 houses destroyed or damaged in Lemon Heights in Orange County.

On Friday night, it was Ventura’s turn. The fire erupted in a flash of smoke and flames in a shallow valley along the brush-filled foothills that back up to the rear of Ventura City Hall. Within five minutes, the first firetrucks arrived at the scene and took the place of a departing television crew from the series “High Tide.”

The crew had taken a dinner break from filming at City Hall when production member Michelle Leve noticed flames on the nearby hillside.

“I came out and I saw a swirl,” she said. “I thought it was dirt blowing from the wind until I saw the flames.”

The TV crew of about 65 members immediately ran to the parking lot behind City Hall, where they had production trucks, camera equipment and their personal vehicles parked at the base of the hillside. Several crew members, including series star Rick Springfield, scrambled up an unburned section of the hillside to warn neighbors of the approaching flames.

“We ran up this hill,” said Danny Stephens, pointing to the burned hillside, “and started [helping with] spraying down the houses.”

The blaze surged quickly toward the hillside homes that crown the city, drawing a crowd of spectators to the heart of business district. Officials closed a 12-mile stretch of Poli Street and Foothill Road from the downtown area to Wells Road in Saticoy. Fifty fire engines and 500 firefighters were battling the blaze.

With the nighttime sky glowing, residents swung into action. Some climbed to rooftops, grabbing garden hoses to protect their property. Others packed up precious belongings and made ready for a quick getaway.

On Aliso Street, the flames came within 50 feet of homes. It was a waiting game. Residents packed up cars, throwing in mementos and family photos. Then they stood in the street to watch the hillsides burn.

With a full, orange moon hanging overhead, there was almost an eerie hush over the neighborhood while the fire crackled above it.

Nora Harrop and her friend sprayed down their yard with hoses. She was at work at the Ash Street Coffeehouse when she saw the flames in the hills.

“They told me to hurry home,” she said.

Up the street, it was even more harrowing for those who still have wood shake roofs. Kitty Thomasin and her husband, Steve, had climbed up on their wooden roof, wearing masks to block the smoke. What they hadn’t counted on were the strangers who showed up to help them spray water on their roof.

“There are a lot of nice people up here helping us out,” Kitty Thomasin said. “I had a contractor here talking about remodeling and redoing the roof. He left at 6:30 p.m. And guess what, changing the roof is the No. 1 priority now.”

Olga Waller ran to the curb from her house on Aliso Street, her arms loaded with clothes as the flaming hillside hissed behind her. The flames were marching down the hill behind her house, coating her and her belongings in soot. Around her, a small and frantic mob of neighbors and strangers ran in and out of her house racing her belongings onto the sidewalk and into waiting cars.

“I’m just numb,” she said, watching firefighters run a hose around her house and aim it at the orange hillside. “This all happened so fast.”

Firefighters told her the house would probably be all right.

Ventura’s Fire Engine 5 sat in front of a row of houses near the top of the hill with hoses linked to a fire hydrant.

“We’re going to protect these houses,” said Capt. Neil Gedney. Above him, the hilltop glowed from the fire, but the flames moved no closer to the homes there.

The Ventura fire deflated hopes that the worst was over. Weather forecasters had even predicted that mountain regions might get a dusting of snow before high winds returned on Sunday night.

“Things look a little bit better than we were expecting,” meteorologist Vladimir Ryshko at the National Weather Service office in Oxnard said Friday. “It certainly looks better for fire containment.”

Nevertheless, strong winds--up to 37 mph at Point Mugu, 35 mph in Lancaster and 78-mph gusts in the Mojave Desert--caused scattered blackouts throughout the region Friday. Those breezes, which painted sparklingly clear vistas, were the friendlier sort, relatively cool and moist from the north and northwest.

Temperatures in the 60s and low 70s are expected today and Sunday in Southern California. The National Weather Service predicted some nighttime rain or snow in mountains above 6,000 feet Friday or today, mostly near Big Bear, but said any precipitation in the Calabasas-Malibu area will evaporate before it hits the ground.

The Santa Anas could push thermometers up 5 to 10 degrees. In addition to delaying the winds’ possible arrival by a day or so until Sunday night or Monday, forecasters are lowering estimates on their top speed generally to 50 mph, with isolated gusts up to 80 mph.

“They don’t look nearly as strong as we originally thought,” said National Weather Service expert Tim McClung.

Friday’s winds caused scattered power outages for about 55,000 customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison, spokesmen said. Those were mainly around downtown Los Angeles, Eagle Rock and Highland Park, Whittier and north Orange County. By Friday night, the number of homes without power was estimated at 3,800, including people in Brentwood, the South Bay and San Pedro.

Still, more trouble was expected today. “We are mobilizing repair crews like crazy,” said Steve Hansen of Edison.

In San Bernardino County, Interstate 40 was closed for about 8 hours Friday because of high winds and blowing sand between Newberry Springs and Ludlow. The California Highway Patrol reported that one big rig blew over, and another ran into the center divider. The road was reopened about 12:30 p.m.

Late Friday, 40-mph winds battered Santa Catalina Island and officials said they would discourage travelers from visiting on small boats this weekend.

“I haven’t seen it blow like this in eight years,” said Brian Dawes, a patrolman for the city of Avalon Harbor Patrol.

Meanwhile, the thoughts of many firefighters and citizens were focused on the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, where doctors operated on Glendale Firefighter William Jensen, the most severely injured firefighter in the Calabasas-Malibu blaze. He remained in critical condition after the surgery.

Jensen, 52, was burned over 70% of his body, and is suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome and the early signs of a blood condition that can lead to internal hemorrhaging. He is expected to return to surgery Tuesday, burn center spokesman Larry Weinberg said.

“Doctors are moderately encouraged by the finding that there was less smoke inhalation damage to his lungs than previously thought,” Weinberg said. “We are watching him hour by hour, day by day.”

Surgeons cut away the dead, burned and otherwise damaged tissue from the surface of Jensen’s body and replaced those areas with more than 15,000 square centimeters of cadaver skin, officials said.

Also Friday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors took tentative steps to extend the use of Super Scooper planes that fight brush fires with water drawn from the ocean. The planes, which were to cost $1.2 million for two months of service this year, were brought in earlier than expected. And under a new proposal, $500,000 in county Fire Department reserves would be spent to keep the planes through December.

In San Diego County on Friday, firefighters continued to mop up the fire that began in the Harmony Grove-Elfin Forest area Monday before sweeping west toward the Carlsbad neighborhood of La Costa. It destroyed 98 homes.

Times staff writers Efrain Hernandez, Tom Gorman, Kenneth R. Weiss, Bob Pool, Ralph Frammolino, Josh Meyer and Mary F. Pols, and correspondents Marilyn Martinez, Scott Steepleton, David Baker and Janet Wiscombe contributed to this story.

* SEEKING SAFEGUARDS

O.C. residents prepare homes for high fire risk weekend. B1