Authors: Rich McKay and Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) – Firefighters began to gain control of a stubborn blaze near Los Angeles that destroyed at least 132 buildings and damaged 88 others on Friday, as many of the more than 10,000 people forced to evacuate were able to return home.
About 2,400 firefighters were helped by more favorable winds from the Pacific Ocean after heated, desiccated winds from the desert fueled the so-called mountain fire that broke out on Wednesday about 80 km northwest of Los Angeles.
By Friday, the fire had burned 20,630 acres (8,350 hectares), virtually unchanged from 24 hours earlier, and was 14% contained, down from 7%, Cal Fire officials said at a news conference.
“We saw no outward or lateral movement today. This is fantastic,” Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said at a news conference.
Residents of 3,500 homes were allowed to return home, but another 2,000 homes were still under evacuation orders, Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said.
The fire, fueled by desiccated brush and steep, rugged terrain, posed a threat to critical infrastructure, and islands continued to burn within its reach.
Among those who lost their home was Dennis Gottlieb of Ventura County. As he waited early Friday morning at the shelter at Padre Serra Parish Church in Camarillo, California, he considered himself lucky to be alive. He said he lost all his belongings except his truck.
“It was windy, very windy, but that’s it, so I went about my normal day until I saw smoke and then fire,” he said. Gottlieb said he grabbed garden hoses and thought he could keep the fire away from the house.
“All of a sudden the smoke got really thick and there were embers all around,” he said. “It was hot, really hot, about 150 degrees (65 degrees Celsius). So I grabbed the keys to my truck,” he said. He and his wife Linda Fellerman barely survived. One of the roads was blocked by a fallen tree until a neighbor cut it down with a chainsaw.
He returned on Thursday to see if he could salvage any memorabilia, but said: “It’s all gone. Everything is gone. “Burned.”
The National Weather Service said the red flag has been lifted for the area as winds are expected to tranquil down to less than 15 mph (24 km/h) and humidity is expected to escalate.
Dry Santa Ana winds that initially fanned the flames with gusts of 80 to 100 mph earlier this week are expected to remain tranquil through the weekend, reaching winds of 20 to 25 mph, said Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist with the NWS office in Oxnard, California.
“The chance of precipitation is minimal to non-existent,” he said. “But although the winds are calmer now, they will pick up again on Tuesday.”
Authorities prepared people for a complex recovery.
“There are only two chimneys left from our house,” Darren Kettle told the Los Angeles Times. “My heart dropped to my stomach. It’s just shocking and traumatic.”
Climatologists say warming temperatures have caused saturated winters that have allowed the development of coastal chaparral in California – areas dominated by tiny trees, shrubs and bushes. Record high temperatures this summer have dried out hillsides, preparing them for wildfires.
The United States is having a severe wildfire year, with 8.1 million acres (3.3 million hectares) burned so far, compared with an annual average of about 7 million acres over the past decade, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
California wildfires have burned more than three times as much land this year as they did at this time last year, according to Cal Fire.
