CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — A wildfire in Southern California has destroyed 132 structures, mostly homes, in less than two days, fire officials said Thursday, raging winds were forecast to dry up.

The fire started Wednesday morning in Ventura County and has grown to about 32 square miles (83 square kilometers) at 5 percent containment. Its cause has not been determined.

Ten people were injured in the fire, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said. Most of them suffered from smoke inhalation or other non-life-threatening injuries.

Fire officials said another 88 structures were damaged, but did not say whether they were burned or affected by water or smoke damage.

About 10,000 people remained under evacuation orders Thursday as the wildfire continued to threaten about 3,500 structures in suburban neighborhoods, farms and agricultural areas around Camarillo in Ventura County.

County firefighters said crews working on steep terrain with the support of water-dropping helicopters were focusing on protecting hillside homes along the fire’s northeastern edge near the city of Santa Paula, home to more than 30,000 people. people.

Kelly Barton watched as firefighters sifted through the charred rubble of her parents’ home of 20 years in the hills of Camarillo overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Crews discovered two safes and her parents’ collection of vintage doorknockers undamaged among the devastation.

“This has been their retirement home forever,” Barton said Thursday. “Now, at 70, he has to start all over again.”

Her father returned to the house an hour after evacuating on Wednesday to find it already destroyed. He was able to move four of their vintage cars to safety, but two — including a Chevy Nova he’s had since he was 18 — burned to the ground, Barton said.

Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to be on the lookout for fast-spreading fires, power outages and downed trees during the latest round of the notorious Santa Ana winds.

I’m Santa Ana dry, warm and gusty northeasterly winds which blows from inland Southern California toward the coast and offshore, moving in the opposite direction to the normal overland flow that carries moist air from the Pacific. They usually appear in the fall months and continue through the winter and into early spring.

Ariel Cohen, the National Weather Service meteorologist in charge in Oxnard, said the Santa Ana winds had died down at lower elevations but remained gusty at higher elevations Thursday evening.

Red flag warnings, which indicate high fire danger conditions, have expired for the area except for the Santa Susana Mountains, Cohen said. The warnings will expire at 11:00 a.m. Friday on the mountain.

Santa Ana winds are expected to return early next week to midweek, Cohen added.

The Mountain Fire was burning in a region that has seen some of California’s most destructive wildfires over the years. The fire quickly grew from less than half a square mile (about 1.2 square kilometers) to more than 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in just over five hours on Wednesday. By Thursday evening, it had been mapped to about 32 square miles (83 square kilometers), and Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency in the county.

Marcus Eriksen, who farms in Santa Paula, said firefighters kept the blight from spreading to his home, vehicles and other structures, even as piles of compost and wood chips were swallowed.

The flames were up to 30 feet (9 meters) high and moving quickly, Eriksen said Thursday. Their speed and ferocity overwhelmed him, but firefighters fought to save what they could on his property. Thanks to their work, “we dodged a bullet, big time,” he said.

Sharon Boggie said the fire happened less than 200 feet (60 meters) from her Santa Paula home.

“I thought we were going to lose her at 7:00 this morning,” Boggie said Thursday as white smoke billowed through the neighborhood. She initially fled with her two dogs, while her sister and nephew stayed behind. A few hours later, the situation seemed better, she said.

The Ventura County Office of Education announced that more than a dozen school districts and campuses in the county were closed Thursday, and several were expected to be closed Friday.

California utilities have begun shutting down equipment during strong winds and extreme fire hazard after a series of massive and deadly fires in recent years were sparked by power lines and other infrastructure.

Power out to nearly 70,000 customers in five counties due to increased risk, Southern California Edison said Thursday. Gabriela Ornelas, spokeswoman for Edison, could not immediately answer whether power was out in the area where the Mountain fire broke out.

The wildfires burned in the same areas of other recent destructive infernos, including those of 2018. The Woolsey firewhich killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes near Los Angeles, and the 2017 Thomas Fire, which burned more than a thousand homes and other structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Southern California Edison paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after its equipment was blamed for both fires.

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Weber reported from Los Angeles. Jaimie Ding and Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles; Ethan Swope in Camarillo; Eugene Garcia in Santa Paula; Amy Taxin of Orange County; Kathy McCormack of Concord, New Hampshire; and Sarah Brumfield in Washington, DC, contributed to this report.

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