Ventura County Brush Fires: Houses Are Burning in Thousand Oaks, Oak Park Area

VALLEY OF SANTA ROSA, California (KABC) –

One of two wind-blown wildfires that erupted in Ventura County reached 7500 acres on Friday morning and threatened 1,000 homes along the Ventura-Los Angeles border.

The fire, dubbed the Woolsey Fire, began in Simi Valley, near the Rocketdyne factory on the Santa Susana Pass.

By early Friday morning, the fire had reached more than 7,500 hectares, with a containment rate of 0%. Several fire departments responded to help fight the fire.

At least 30,000 people were forced to evacuate for the Woolsey fire, authorities said.

Ventura County Fire Department officials have issued mandatory evacuation orders for Oak Park residents of Thousand Oaks, from Thousand Oaks Blvd. to Sunset Hills, from Oak Park West to Lansdowne. Highway 23, as well as for Bell Canyon and Saddlebow Road between Maverick Lane and Morgan Road.

Voluntary evacuations were issued at Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Hidden Hills.

The city of Calabasas tweeted that mandatory evacuation orders had been issued for areas located north of Highway 101, between Valley Circle Boulevard and Lindero Canyon Road. A voluntary evacuation order was in effect for areas south of Highway 101.

A second fire in the Santa Rosa Valley east of Camarillo, west of Simi Valley, near Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks, was a few kilometers from the scene of a deadly shootout that cost the lives of 12 people Wednesday night.

Fire officials in Ventura County estimated the size of the fire to be over 15,000 acres, but the authorities then took the fire back to about 7,000 acres. Cal Fire tweeted that the fire was covering about 10,000 acres.

Structures were seen burning air like a row of flames closed in a large residential area near Old Conejo Road.

Mandatory evacuations have been issued for the Cal State Channel Islands, Vallecito mobile home park and the Camarillo Springs and Dos Vientos areas, authorities said. The naval base at Point Magu was under voluntary evacuation.

Firefighters estimated that 1,200 homes had been evacuated in the Camarillo Springs and Dos Vientos areas.

TO BE FOLLOWED: Complete list of evacuations and closures of roads during fires in Ventura County

Highway 101 was completely closed between Borchard Road and Pleasant Valley Road in both directions.

Hundreds of Ventura County firefighters and eight tankers fought the flames on the ground and from above.

Clouds of thick white smoke could be seen rising above the burn site as strong winds from Santa Ana pushed the flames under red flag conditions.

The cause of the fires remains under study.