Winds Fan Brush Fire Between Ojai, Santa Paula

A major brush fire broke out in the hills above Santa Paula on Tuesday night, forcing dozens of residents to flee their homes and causing the closure of California 150, which temporarily halted all travel between Ojai and Santa Paula.

The blaze, which engulfed at least one home, broke out about 8 p.m. near Koenigstein Road and was quickly moving southwest late Tuesday, witnesses said. Firefighters were struggling to contain the blaze because of winds topping 60 mph.

Firefighters said they did not know the cause of the blaze. Early estimates had the fire at more than 100 acres, but county fire dispatchers said it was growing quickly.

Authorities and residents said several homes and small ranches in the area, southwest of Los Padres National Forest and about four miles northwest of Santa Paula, were being threatened by flames.

“People are packing up their things and trying to get their animals together and get out,” said a panicked Mary Morgan, who lives in the 11000 block of Koenigstein, where evacuations were ongoing at 9 p.m.

By 10 p.m., the fire had spread at least half a mile west to another small residential enclave on Topa Lane.

“There are firemen outside wearing masks on their faces trying to put the embers out that are flying around,” said Vicky Thompson, who lives on Topa Lane. She said the pigpens outside her home started to burn as she was being interviewed by telephone.

The area is covered in heavy brush and dotted with several large oak trees.

Many of the people who chose to evacuate loaded up their horses, dogs, other pets and personal belongings in large horse trailers and left the area. Several other people sought shelter at nearby Summit School on California 150, which is also known as Ojai-Santa Paula Road.

“It’s a huge fire and the wind is blowing insanely fast,” said a resident who identified herself only as Virginia.

“It’s right in the backyard,” she said while standing at a friend’s house on Topa Lane.

At 9 p.m., the California Highway Patrol had closed the highway between the city of Santa Paula and Dennison Grade, just east of Ojai in the Upper Ojai Valley.

A dispatcher for the Ventura County Fire Department said more than 200 firefighters were battling the blaze. Sheriff’s officials sent a dozen deputies to the scene to help with evacuations and a water-dropping helicopter. Officials were hoping that the chopper could be used because of the bright sky from Tuesday night’s full moon.

Sid Reyes, another Topa Lane resident, was standing outside his home at 9 p.m. and said he could smell the smoke and see the glow of the flames. By 10 p.m., he was being asked to evacuate.

As of 10:15 p.m., the fire had engulfed one home on Sisar Road, just west of Topa Lane. There were no reported injuries.

Ventura County saw its largest brush fire of the season less than three weeks ago. It broke out about 2 a.m. Dec. 5 in the dry, rugged hills between Somis and Santa Paula, injuring two firefighters and consuming 3,332 acres, fire officials said.

The fire, which began in the area of Bradley Road and Coyote Canyon, was fully contained by noon the next day.

The fast-moving flames also killed three cattle and burned a barn and three horse trailers near W. D. Sence Ranch in Somis.

In early July, a brush fire burned 2,800 acres near Lake Piru, and a blaze in late June at Kings Campground in northeast Ventura County blackened 650 acres. In late July, a slow-moving brush fire blackened more than 240 acres in the rock-covered hills of eastern Simi Valley.

Times photographer Bryan Chan and Times Community News reporter Katie Cooper contributed to this story.