Firefighters in Southern California are gaining ground on wildfires thanks to fewer winds: NPR

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — Southern California firefighters gained ground Friday against a wildfire that destroyed at least 132 structures, mostly homes, as favorable conditions were expected to continue through the weekend after two days of dangerous gusty winds.

Meteorologists expect light winds over the weekend, which will continue to help firefighters. Meteorologists are monitoring a weather system that could hit Southern California next week, but it is not expected to bring another round of extreme winds like earlier this week.

Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said Friday that 3,500 homes had been repopulated, but residents of 2,000 homes were still unable to return.

Maryanne Belote was among those who returned Friday to search the charred remains of her belongings. She returned home to her mountain neighborhood in Camarillo, a city northwest of Los Angeles, after making a harrowing escape with her cat, dog and horses as a fire raged in the area. The only thing left standing was a rock wall she had built.

“If I hadn’t gotten the horses I would have been devastated, but I have my family and my animals so I’m fine. I will rebuild,” she said as she stood in front of the remains of her 50-year-old home while her dog remained in her car.

The mountain fire began Wednesday morning in Ventura County and had grown to an area of ​​32 square miles (about 83 square kilometers). As of Friday evening, it was 14% contained.

“We had no external or lateral movement today,” Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said Friday. “This is fantastic.”

Bill Nardoni and his family searched through the rubble of their Camarillo home Friday afternoon and discovered his wedding ring in a safe. But his wife’s copy, stored in another safe in another part of their house, remained missing and Nardoni did not have high hopes that it would be found intact.

Nardoni, his wife and his visiting mother-in-law fled with their dogs Wednesday morning as flames engulfed both sides of the street. On Friday, they returned to a devastated house that they bought just a year ago and was still undergoing renovations.

“The house is decimated. There’s actually nothing that can be salvaged from this,” he said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Thousands of people had to be evacuated for three days as the fire threatened about 3,500 structures in suburban neighborhoods, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo in Ventura County.

In addition to the 132 buildings destroyed, at least 88 other buildings were damaged. Officials did not say whether they suffered burns or were affected by water or smoke damage. The cause of the fire is not clear.

Ten people suffered smoke inhalation or other injuries that were not life-threatening, Fryhoff said on Thursday.

The next day, the sheriff said his deputies were deploying cadaver dogs to the area as a precaution, although no one had been reported missing.

Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to watch for fast-spreading fires, power outages and downed trees during the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds, including in a rural area of ​​northern San Diego County where a brush fire prompted mandatory evacuations led Friday afternoon.

Santa Anas are dry, warm, gusty northeasterly winds that blow toward and offshore from the interior of Southern California, moving in the opposite direction of the normal land current that carries moist air from the Pacific. They typically occur in the fall months and continue through the winter and into early spring.

Red flag warnings indicating high fire danger conditions went out of effect Thursday in most areas, except for the Santa Susana Mountains, where warnings went out Friday morning as winds died down.

Due to smoke from the wildfires, an air quality warning for harmful particulate matter pollution was in effect from Friday morning to Saturday afternoon.

More than a dozen school districts and campuses in Ventura County were closed Friday due to impacts from the fires, according to the county Office of Education.

The Mountain Fire burned in a region that has seen some of California’s most devastating fires over the years. The fire quickly grew from less than half a square mile (about 1.2 square kilometers) to more than 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in just over five hours on Wednesday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Ventura County.