With a destructive fire out of control in Ventura County, Southern California faces another day of high winds and dry conditions.

That puts firefighters in the region on high alert.

As of Thursday morning, the fire was 14,104 acres with no containment. Many houses were lost.

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• The National Weather Service has issued an “extremely hazardous situation” alert, warning of “widespread extreme fire weather conditions.”
• The warning was issued for large areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Much of the surrounding area was also experiencing dangerous winds high wind warnings or red standard issued for the mountains of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, the Inland Empire and parts of Orange County.
• Wind gusts were so strong in Ventura County that firefighting planes were unable to operate for parts of Wednesday.
• A dust advisory is also in effect until Thursday.

Santa Ana winds have helped propel several fires in the region, but the Mountain fire exploded Wednesday, sweeping foothill communities.

Forecast

• Red flag warnings remain in place until 6pm on Thursday
• The NWS forecast winds will not be as strong Thursday compared to Wednesday, but still dangerous.
• Winds pushing the fire to the southwest could sustain gusts of 30 to 55 mph, with gusts up to 100 mph in wind-prone mountain locations Thursday, emergency in Ventura County officials warned.
• The wind will drop but will still be a problem on Friday.

A fast-moving fire in Ventura County has burned more than 10,000 acres and charred numerous homes in the foothills communities surrounding Camarillo.

November 6, 2024

Fire behavior

• High winds fueled several fires Wednesday, the largest being the Mountain Fire in Ventura County.
• Firefighters reported that during Wednesday’s battle, they saw embers starting new fires two and a half miles ahead of the main fire line.
• More than 65,000 Southland utility customers were without power Wednesday afternoon “due to increased wildfire risk.” according to Southern California Edison. Public safety outages that affected Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, Orange and Santa Barbara counties Wednesday morning were extended to parts of Kern and Tulare counties. Another 254,000 were considered for safety outages through at least Thursday, SCE reported.