news issues trends usa media Headline Animator
Cause of 17,000-acre fire still a mystery By Sylvie Belmond
An unpredictable, wind-driven brush fire kept Moorpark residents on high alert all week while more than 1,800 firefighters battled to keep the blaze from reaching the northern end of the city.
The fire started in a mulch pile near Guiberson Road south of Fillmore at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and quickly moved into the remote canyons nearby, officials said.
Early reports indicated the blaze was ignited when a large pile of manure spontaneously combusted, but Ventura County Fire Department officials backed down from that statement and are now saying the cause is still under investigation.
As of yesterday, the fire had consumed 16,400 acres and was 40 percent contained.
Santa Ana winds, low humidity and the heat have created perfect conditions for fire, said Moorpark resident Lori Ross, a fire prevention inspector for the county fire department.
“It’s burning to the east and to the west, going in two different directions, which doesn’t happen often,” Ross told the Acorn.
The blaze, which came within a mile of Moorpark College during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, threatened several local neighborhoods, but no homes were damaged.
“The fire has a lot of potential for significant growth; it grew 9,700 acres in less than 24 hours,” said Robert Lewin, incident commander for Cal Fire, at a press briefing in Moorpark on Wednesday.
Eight firefighters have sustained minor injuries battling the blaze, mostly from smoke inhalation. The flames came close to five power lines that supply large areas of Ventura County and Santa Barbara, a major natural gas line and oil fields. Two outbuildings were burnt.
“It’s a very dangerous fire. We need to make sure the citizens are paying attention to what’s going on so they can adhere to evacuation orders,” Lewin said at the press conference. He was surrounded by local officials who were coordinating policing and firefighting efforts at a makeshift command center at Arroyo Vista Community Park.
Voluntary evacuations were in effect Wednesday for Campus Canyon and several rural communities near Balcom Canyon Road.
In addition to road closures, mostly affecting rural areas between Moorpark and Fillmore, the fire prompted officials to suspend classes at Moorpark College, Campus Canyon Elementary and Walnut Canyon School on Wednesday.
The campuses were reopened on Thursday.
County Fire Chief Bob Roper said the erratic nature of the fire should serve as a reminder that people must be prepared for wildfires, which occur year-round.
“We need the public to be prepared and heed the warnings to make sure everything is taken care of,” he said.
Authorities notified about 2,100 households by using a reverse 911 system, and they went door-to-door in neighborhoods close to the blaze to caution residents. About 1,000 homes were threatened.
Voluntary evacuations were implemented in the Country Club Estates and Meridian Hills neighborhoods Tuesday, but they were lifted within a few hours.
Mary Sagala-Verleur, who lives on a ranch near the Rustic Canyon Golf Course, said the fire came close her gate Tuesday night.
She said that several of her neighbors were evacuated and a neighboring property was scorched, but firefighters managed to save the house.
“The fire hit our area just as the wind became completely still, so it didn’t jump the road,” said Sagala-Verleur, relieved that she didn’t have to relocate 22 horses.
With so many homes and structures threatened, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Tuesday, allowing fire crews to call in additional resources and receive help from state agencies like Cal Fire.
As of Thursday, multi-agency resources allocated to the Guiberson Fire included 214 fire engines, 21 helicopters, 23 fire hand crews and 21 bulldozers. In addition, a firefighting DC-10 jumbo jet joined a fleet of seven air tankers.
Evacuation centers were designated at the Goebel Senior Center in Thousand Oaks and the Ventura County Fairgrounds, which will also take large animals.
All residents who were evacuated in the Moorpark area were allowed to return home.
“If the weather continues to do what we expect it to do, we still expect to have it fully contained by Saturday,” VCFD spokesperson Bill Nash said.
“Since there were not a lot fires burning in California this week we were able to bring in many resources to put out the blaze,” he said.
The fire was also easier to manage because it went through areas that had already been burnt in the 2006 Shekell Fire, Nash said.
Fire suppression costs haven’t been determined yet, Roper said, noting that most firefighting expenses will be reimbursed by state and federal agencies.
He added that the actual price of such disasters is usually 30 times higher than the costs of suppression because businesses and residents are also affected.
“It’s a trickledown effect,” Roper said. For instance, the two rock quarries between Fillmore and Moorpark were shut down earlier this week, so many people lost part of their wages, he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment