Tinder-Dry Grass Fuels 300-Acre Brush Fire

The biggest brush fire of the season scorched nearly 300 acres in eastern Ventura County on Friday, unnerving residents as it burned near hillside homes in Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

The fire began about 1 p.m. near the upscale Lang Ranch neighborhood of Thousand Oaks. Fanned by light winds, it burned in a northeast direction across dry grassland toward the Wood Ranch area in Simi Valley.

There were no reports of evacuations or serious injuries. Fire officials said the blaze was 35% contained by 8 p.m.

“It is still burning out of control,” Fire Department spokesman Joe Luna said. “It could have been worse, given the vegetation and the weather. If the winds had been stronger, it could have been a different outcome altogether.”

The fire was started by two boys playing with fireworks, Luna said. No information about the youths was released, but Luna said arson investigators and sheriff’s deputies questioned the pair Friday night and were considering various penalties that could include criminal charges and fines.

The Fire Department deployed 21 engines, two bulldozers, four helicopters and two air tankers. About 250 firefighters and crew members with the state forestry department also aided in the effort.

The blaze, which was expected to burn through the night, is the biggest of this year’s fire season, which began two weeks ago.

Luna said fire crews are bracing for next week’s Fourth of July holiday because of concerns that the use of fireworks could touch off a blaze in the tinder-dry county.

Although the fire did not threaten homes, it frightened residents in the hilly neighborhood in eastern Thousand Oaks where the blaze began.

Lang Ranch homeowner Ralph Netz, 46, left work and sped home after his wife called his office in Calabasas to report the hills around their house were in flames.

“I saw the smoke when I was leaving the office,” Netz said. “I envisioned it burning all up around my house. But thankfully the wind was blowing the other way.”

At the far end of Indian Ridge Circle in Lang Ranch, residents watched as 6-foot-high flames came within 30 feet of their homes.

A team of fire crews from the California Department of Forestry walked in single file through the backyard of one home and hacked at dry brush with shovels and pitchforks in an effort to stop the advancing flames.

As she stood in front of her home in clear view of the flames, Lori Keipper talked to her husband on a cell phone and reassured him that their house would survive.

When her family moved to Thousand Oaks from Atlanta three years ago, Keipper said, they were aware that fire danger came with the pleasant weather and hillside views.

“We left tornadoes behind,” she said. “I have all the confidence in the world in these firefighters. They have done this before.”

Times staff writers Tina Dirmann contributed to this story.