By CHRISTINA ALMEIDA
The Associated Press
MOORPARK, Calif. — Powerful, erratic winds early Monday hampered crews fighting a wildfire that destroyed five homes and threatened hundreds more in the hilly outskirts of this Southern California bedroom community.
With Santa Ana winds gusting up to 60 mph, firefighters said they were focused more on protecting the ranches, tract homes and citrus orchards on Moorpark’s northern and western edges than on containing the blaze, which began Sunday at 2:30 a.m.
“You don’t attack a fire with winds this extreme,” said Capt. Mike Mathiesen of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “They’re ferocious.”
The fire burned at least 15 square miles, while gutting a warehouse and five other homes, authorities said. Hundreds of residents, some with horses and livestock, were gearing up to flee or had already done so after authorities recommended evacuations.
The Moorpark Unified School District was closed Monday.
“The sheriff’s (deputies) said if you see flames, leave,” said Dave Hare, who was at a home on the site of a recycling business he owns.
More than 1,000 firefighters were working the blaze, and water-dropping helicopters would begin flying sorties after daybreak.
The fire was being pushed by winds of up to 30 mph and gusts as high as 60 mph Monday, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a “red flag” warning of extreme fire danger because of high wind and dry conditions.
Some residents stayed put despite 35-feet flames nearby. In one neighborhood, the fire came within 100 yards of homes.
Arturo Huerta, 88, stationed himself on the family’s home with hose in hand and watched for burning embers. “I’m kinda nervous,” he said.
The blaze began on the northwestern edge of Moorpark, a one-time farm town about 29 miles northwest of Los Angeles that has transformed into a bedroom community.
It quickly burned through 9,700 acres of heavy brush and chaparral in hills dotted with horse ranches, tract homes, and eucalyptus, avocado and citrus groves on the city’s outskirts.
Flames sprung up again around 7 a.m. near Moorpark, but fire officials later classified both fires as a single blaze known as the Shekell incident, although they were a couple of miles apart. A third fire burned south of Camarillo and was expected to be contained at 30 acres, authorities said.
By early evening, the fire had created a dense, brown-and-orange haze over the city and forced authorities to shut down part of Highway 23, the area’s main north-south artery.
A massive packaging plant was engulfed in flames and burnt for hours, occasionally letting off small explosions. Firefighters stood watch at a nearby estate to ensure a shift in wind wouldn’t send flames toward the home.
No major injuries were reported. A fire engine belonging to the state fire department tipped over during the initial response, but three firefighters aboard were uninjured. The accident occurred when the engine’s driver apparently got too close to the edge of a road to let cars pass, officials said.
In Riverside County, firefighters gained control of a wildfire that burned 100 acres of hillside brush. The fire, which began late Saturday near a high school in Norco, was fanned by strong winds and caused one minor injury to a firefighter.
The causes of the fires were under investigation.