Firefighters Monitor Site of Wildfire

Firefighters hosed down burned hills covered in ashes Monday, trying to prevent the wildfire that burned about 800 acres in eastern Ventura County on Sunday from sparking again, officials said.

“We are going to keep pouring water, just to make sure the fire is completely out,” said Joe Luna, information officer with the Ventura County Fire Department. “We can’t miss one spark. One spark is enough to ignite a fire.”

Hundreds of firefighters and emergency crews from Los Angeles and Ventura counties battled thick, black smoke Sunday afternoon for several hours before containing the blaze at about 11 p.m., Luna said. The cause remained under investigation Monday.

The fire broke out on the site of the planned Ahmanson Ranch development west of the Los Angeles County line and quickly spread northeast, burning mostly in Ventura County, near the Ventura Freeway and east of Las Virgenes Road.

“The fire started in an active area, where people hike,” said Ray Rodriguez, fire inspector with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. “It could have been caused by a number of things: a broken glass, cigarette butt, campfire.”

Fire officials are asking residents who live near brushy areas to clear their property of all dry vegetation and to be on the lookout for fires. Brush fires are more common from May through November, Luna said.

Sunday’s fire was the largest in the San Fernando Valley so far this season and the first in Ventura County.

On Sunday, officials had been worried that the fire had destroyed the nearly extinct San Fernando Valley spineflower, which has been a focus of controversy concerning development plans for the property.

Critics of the planned 3,050-home project on Ahmanson Ranch have opposed it partly because of the discovery of the rare spineflower and the endangered California red-legged frog on the land.

“We were glad to find out the fire did not affect either the spineflowers or the nearly extinct red-legged frogs,” said Tim McGarry, a spokesman for Washington Mutual, the banking giant seeking to develop the ranch.