East Winds Up to 79 MPH Continue Raking the County

Early morning winds, reaching 79 mph in an eastern canyon, buffeted parts of Orange County on Tuesday before weakening about 10 a.m. into gentler gusts, and temperatures reached summer-like highs, weather services reported.

The gusty winds “came from the east, mostly affecting areas around Fullerton, Yorba Linda and Brea,” said Amy Talmage, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

The early morning winds, slightly milder than those that swept the county on Christmas Day, are likely to persist through Friday, mainly in the morning and evening hours, Talmage said. Breezes will be especially brisk below inland passes and canyons, she said.

“They won’t be strong throughout the day,” Talmage said, “so don’t expect the afternoons to be gusty.”

In Santa Ana, the high temperature was 79 degrees, making the city one of the two warmest spots in the nation, according to WeatherData. Santa Paula in Ventura County also posted a high of 79.

Talmage said daytime highs are likely to be in the upper 60s to mid-70s today and possibly a bit higher Thursday. Saturday may bring a respite, she said, but the winds could kick up again on New Year’s Eve.

No wind-driven brush fires were reported in Orange County on Tuesday, but winds helped spark a 600-acre fire in Thousand Oaks that swept within 100 feet of million-dollar homes. Four teenagers were arrested on suspicion of starting the blaze.

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies arrested Chad Montagnino, 18, of Westlake Village, a 17-year-old from Thousand Oaks and two 16-year-old boys from Agoura Hills in connection with the fire, which broke out at 2:26 a.m. above North Ranch Country Club Estates in eastern Ventura County and was contained 16 hours later, Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Nelson said.

The four were arrested on suspicion of carelessly causing a fire, Nelson said, which is a misdemeanor. They also were booked on suspicion of taking a vehicle without the owner’s permission, a felony, said Det. J.T. Manwell. The van belonged to the mother of one of the Agoura Hills boys.

Montagnino was being held on $20,000 bail. The three younger suspects were awaiting transfer to Juvenile Hall, Manwell said.

Arson investigators believe the fire started with sparks from the vehicle as the teenagers drove through heavy brush near the 4000 block of Lakeview Canyon Road, Nelson said. The fire burned the van and spread, fanned by 30-mph winds.

Firefighters stopped the blaze about a mile and a half south of its origin, less than 100 feet from condominiums on Via Colinas.

Up at 3 a.m. to walk his dog, Dennis Harding said he smelled smoke and heard sirens. He drove a short distance and saw 50-foot high flames heading toward his home.

“The whole side of the mountain was lit up like a charcoal grill,” he said. “When you see flames of 50 and 60 feet coming over the hill, all hot yellow and white, you just want to get out of there.”

He pounded on neighbors’ doors, making sure they were awake. Residents loaded pets and important papers into their vehicles and parked them down the street.

One of those who left was Susan Lewis, 36, whose bedroom window now faces a blackened hillside.

“I woke up to a wall of fire at 4 a.m.,” said Lewis, who lives in a condo she bought two years ago. “I was really scared. I was sitting in my living room saying prayers.”

Shoeleh Di Julio, who lives with her husband and two daughters in the 900 block of Country Valley Road in Country Club Estates, said a frantic telephone call woke her.

“Smoke was coming in the house and I was having a hard time breathing,” Di Julio said. “I told my kids to just take stuff that is hard to replace.”

On Hunter Valley Lane, frightened homeowners scrambled to load valuables into their cars as flames swept near their backyards.

“At first it seemed far away so we weren’t concerned about it and we went back to sleep,” said Lena Kim, who was staying at her parents’ house. They awoke two hours later to see the flames marching toward them.

Residents of the condominiums on Via Colinas said many people gripe about a monthly fee for the brush clearance. But, Harding said, “that firebreak is what saved us.”

A Ventura County code requiring that brush be trimmed at least 100 feet from residences kept Tuesday’s fire from destroying dozens of houses and condominiums, authorities said.

Scott Quirarte, an arson investigator for the Ventura County Fire Department, said the blaze probably started when the four teenagers attempted to back the van out of an area filled with dry brush.

“You have a thick layer of grass here and the vehicle was driving on it,” Quirarte said. “We didn’t find any incendiary devices.”

The charred van, its melted front tires hanging perilously on the edge of a ridge with acres of blackened hills in the background, may have become overheated and ignited the brush as the driver attempted to turn back after getting stuck, Quirarte said.

Nelson said he didn’t know which of the four teenagers was driving. Sheriff’s deputies arrested them a short time later near the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall, he said.

Ventura County authorities turned them over to detectives with the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lost Hills station, Nelson said.

Manwell said the mother of one of the teenagers “had just one payment [on the minivan] and then one of them gets the fine idea to drive back into the hills.”

The high ridgeline with 360-degree vistas of the Conejo Valley is a favorite after-hours haunt for teenagers, authorities said. Investigators found several wine and beer bottles at the scene.

At least 600 firefighters from Ventura and Los Angeles counties and several city fire departments battled the blaze before officials declared it contained at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Forty engines and 15 hand crews were involved, Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman Sandi Wells said. They were aided by two water-dropping helicopters and two air tankers filled with a chemical agent used to contain wildfires.

North Ranch, where homes sell for an average of $1.8 million, is the city’s highest-priced housing development, said John Prescott, a Thousand Oaks city planner.

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Times correspondent Jenifer Ragland contributed to this report.

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Winds Pack a Wallop

Strong gusts buffeted much of Southern California on Monday and Tuesday. How Orange County fared:

Peak Wind Gusts

Placentia: 23

Fullerton: 21

Anaheim: 20

Westminster: 24

Huntington Beach: 26

Newport Beach: 25

Lake Forest: 20

San Clemente: 25

Laguna Beach: 26

Santa Ana: 24

Fremont Canyon Winds

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Time Avg. Peak 12/25 Midnight 23 33 2 a.m. 39 63 4 a.m. 61 87 6 a.m. 56 108 8 a.m. 49 77 10 a.m. 52 89 Noon 49 79 2 p.m. 26 54 4 p.m. 36 51 6 p.m. 35 61 8 p.m. 33 62 10 p.m. 29 62 12/26 Midnight 42 62 2 a.m. 30 79 4 a.m. 23 41 6 a.m. 30 53 8 a.m. 28 42 10 a.m. 21 43 Noon 23 39

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Sources: National Weather Service, California Department of Water Resources, KNBC WeatherNet

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times