Fires Contained After Burning 600 Acres

After three days and more than $1 million in overtime pay and equipment costs, firefighters have contained three persistent Ventura County brush fires, officials said Wednesday.

Sandi Wells, a spokeswoman for the Ventura County Fire Department, said the fires charred nearly 600 acres and involved about 600 firefighters and hand crews.

“They were pesky fires and we had a lot of flare-ups,” Wells said.

Warm winds and almost no humidity beginning last weekend contributed to the rash of fires, Wells said. By Wednesday afternoon U.S. Forest Service crews had taken oversight of what was left of the 500-acre Hopper Canyon blaze, which broke out about 6:30 a.m. Monday near Fillmore.

Wells said county and federal fire investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire, which began near a cabin in the mountainous terrain above the city.

Wells said the Hall Canyon fire Tuesday night near Ventura was most likely ignited by a downed power line from a faulty crossbar. Wells said the fire burned 52 acres of brush.

She said a third fire, near McGrath State Beach off Harbor Boulevard and Gonzalez Road, burned about 30 acres of brush before it was put out Wednesday.

Dave Gomberg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said the dry warm winds that blew through the county will soon be replaced by more typical early-winter Southern California weather.

Highs over the next five days should hit the high 60s to low 70s and lows will be in the 40s. Breezes will blow in the canyons and passes but a return of humidity will lower fire risk.