By Rich McKay and Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) – Firefighters began to gain control on Friday over a persistent wildfire near Los Angeles that destroyed at least 132 buildings and damaged 88 others, while many of the more than 10,000 people forced to evacuate were able to return to their homes.
About 2,400 firefighters were aided by more favorable winds off the Pacific Ocean after previously hot, dry winds from the desert fanned the so-called Mountain Fire, which broke out Wednesday about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Los Angeles.
The fire had consumed 20,630 acres (8,350 hectares) as of Friday, virtually unchanged from 24 hours earlier, and was 14% contained, down from 7%, Cal Fire officials said at a news conference.
“We didn’t have any external or lateral movement today. That’s fantastic,” Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said at a news conference.
Residents of 3,500 homes were able to return to their homes, but another 2,000 homes remained under evacuation orders, Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said.
Fueled by dry brush and steep, rugged terrain, the fire remained a threat to critical infrastructure and the islands would continue to burn within its footprint.
Among those who lost a home was Dennis Gottlieb of Ventura County. He considered himself lucky to be alive as he waited early Friday morning in a shelter at the Padre Serra Catholic Parish Church in Camarillo, California. He said he lost all his possessions except his truck.
“It was windy, very windy, but that’s all, so I started my normal day until I saw the smoke and then the fire,” he said. Gottlieb said he grabbed some garden hoses and thought he could keep the fire away from the house.
“Suddenly the smoke became very thick and embers were falling everywhere,” he said. “It was hot, really hot, like 150 degrees (65 C). So I grabbed the keys to my truck,” he said. He and his wife, Linda Fellerman, barely made it out. A road was blocked by a fallen tree until a neighbor cut it down with a chainsaw.
He returned on Thursday to see if he could recover any memories, but said: “Everything is gone. Everything is gone. Burnt.”
A red flag warning was lifted for the area because winds were expected to calm to less than 15 miles per hour (24 kph) and humidity would increase, the National Weather Service said.
The dry Santa Ana winds that initially fanned the flames with gusts of 80 to 100 mph earlier this week are expected to remain calm through the weekend, peaking at 20 to 25 mph, said Ariel Cohen, NWS meteorologist. office in Oxnard, California.
“The chances of rain are slim to none,” he said. “But although the winds are calmer now, they will pick up again on Tuesday.”
Officials prepared people for a difficult recovery.
“The only thing left standing from our house are the two chimneys,” Darren Kettle told the Los Angeles Times. “My heart sank to my stomach. It’s just shocking, traumatic.”
Climate scientists say rising temperatures have created wet winters that allowed California’s coastal chaparral – areas dominated by small trees, shrubs and shrubs – to thrive. This summer’s record temperatures dried out the slopes, preparing them for wildfires.
The United States is experiencing a strong wildfire year with 8.1 million acres (3.3 million hectares) burned to date, compared to an annual average of about 7 million acres over the past decade, according to data of the National Interagency Fire Center.
So far this year, California wildfires have burned more than three times as much land as this time last year, according to Cal Fire data.