FEROCIOUS winds in southern California have whipped up an explosive wildfire that prompted evacuation orders for nearly 8,000 homes, authorities said yesterday.
The blaze broke out on Monday and grew wildly to more than 40 square miles in the hours that followed, consuming vegetation that has not burned in decades, Ventura County fire sergeant Eric Buschow said.
The winds were pushing it towards Santa Paula, a city of 30,000 people about 60 miles north-west of Los Angeles. Many of the evacuated homes were in that city. However, evacuation orders were expanded to houses in Ventura, which is 12 miles south-west and has 106,000 residents.
“The fire growth is just absolutely exponential,” Ventura County fire chief Mark Lorenzen said.
“All firefighters can do when we have winds like this is get out ahead, evacuate people, and protect structures.”
Thomas Aquinas College, a school with about 350 students, has also been evacuated, with students going to their own homes or to those of faculty and staff, the college said in a statement.
One person was killed in a vehicle accident associated with the fire, officials said. At least two structures have burned so far.
Winds exceeding 40mph and gusts over 60mph have been reported in the area and are expected to continue, the National Weather Service said.
All schools in the Ventura Unified School District were closed yesterday.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here