Ventura County fire erupts, forcing evacuations

A large brush fire whipped by lingering Santa Ana winds in Ventura County made a run toward Santa Paula on Friday, burning toward two mobile home parks just beyond the Santa Clara River as crews rushed to protect the structures.

The Maria fire broke out atop South Mountain, just south of Santa Paula, Thursday evening and quickly burned toward the small agricultural towns of Somis and Saticoy. By Friday, the fire had grown to 8,730 acres and had no containment.

The fire appeared to change direction Friday morning, sending flames up toward Santa Paula. Strike teams were staging near the Rancho Santa Paula Mobile Home Park and the Anacapa Mobile Home Park in the event that flames jumped the Santa Clara River, fire officials said.

“Part of it is the wind has shifted, but another is just the terrain that we’re dealing with trying to get those lines established,” Fire Capt. Brian McGrath said.

Nearby in another Santa Paula neighborhood, a man stood on his roof spraying his home with water from a garden hose as police and fire officials urged residents to evacuate. Others covered their mouths and noses as they fled to avoid thick smoke that choked the neighborhood.

Fire officials say at least two structures have been lost in the blaze and roughly 1,800 structures remained threatened. Mandatory evacuations were in place for about 7,500 people.

More than 500 firefighters battling the blaze took advantage of lower wind speeds overnight using a helicopter with night-flying capabilities and ground crews to beat back flames. However, officials had to ground the chopper several times to avoid a drone that was flying in the area, apparently trying to photograph the blaze, McGrath said.

Shortly after the fire broke out Thursday evening, it made an aggressive march along the...