Brush Fires, Home Blaze Reported

Strong winds fanned two brush fires Monday in Southern California, while a Christmas candle started a blaze that left a Ventura family without a home.

No one was reported injured in any of the blazes.

Pushed by 20-mph winds, flames blackened 200 acres near the Antelope Valley Freeway in Agua Dulce in northern Los Angeles County before being brought under control at dusk, fire officials said.

The blaze broke out about 3:25 p.m. in a rocky, brush-covered area close to Soledad Canyon Road, said Capt. Brian Jordan of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. No homes were damaged.

At its peak, 300 firefighters from Los Angeles County and the U.S. Forest Service battled the flames.

Four water-dropping helicopters--including two from the city of Los Angeles--were pressed into service, Jordan said.

Crews were hampered by high winds and low humidity as well as the dry and rugged land.

Even so, firefighters managed to knock down the fire at 5:15 p.m., nearly two hours after it broke out, Jordan said.

The blaze burned within sight of several structures, including a home and corrals containing horses.

Some residents loaded up their vehicles and voluntarily evacuated the area, in case the flames threatened their homes.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation, Jordan said.

Meanwhile in Ventura County, a wind-whipped brush fire charred about 369 acres in rugged terrain between Santa Paula and Somis on Monday.

Bracing for another night of fierce Santa Ana winds, officials said the brush fire straddling the ridge of South Mountain was 75% contained Monday evening and would be fully contained this morning. About 270 firefighters from Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Ventura counties and the California Department of Forestry struggled up treacherous slopes to knock down the blaze.

In east Ventura, Christmas was bittersweet for the family of Ed and Denise Osiadacz.

Salvaging a few ash-covered belongings from his severely damaged home, Ed Osiadacz was grateful that his wife, their four children and his mother-in-law had escaped without injury.

“That’s the important thing,” said Osiadacz, a computer network engineer. “Everything else can be replaced.”

The blaze started about 12:30 a.m., when an untended Christmas candle over the living room fireplace apparently fell.

While Osiadacz was attending midnight Mass, the rest of the family was at home. Washing the dishes from Christmas Eve dinner, his wife rushed to the living room when she smelled smoke. Rousing the rest of the family, she helped them race to safety at a neighbor’s house.

By the time 35 firefighters extinguished the blaze, it had caused structural damage of $250,000 and destroyed possessions valued at $150,000, authorities said.

With help from the American Red Cross, the family spent the night at a motel.

They plan to house-sit for vacationing friends before deciding where to live until their home is restored. The fire did not burn away Osiadacz’s sense of humor.

“We were thinking about remodeling,” he said as he gazed at his flame-blackened home, “but nothing this extreme.”