A8 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019 S LATIMES.COM
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
Road in Simi Valley shortly
after 6 a.m. and bounded
toward the library, a repos-
itory of records and artifacts
from the Reagan adminis-
tration, officials said.
“Unfortunately it was
about the worst time it could
happen — 40-mile-an-hour
sustained winds and fuels
that were ripe and ready to
carry fire,” said Ventura
County Fire Chief Mark
Lorenzen.
Though flames sur-
rounded the 125,000-square-
foot center for several hours,
the library was not dam-
aged, officials said.
The blaze, which had
chewed through 1,400 acres
of brush as of Wednesday
afternoon, burned at least
one home on Tierra Rejada
Road and threatened an ad-
ditional 7,000 in parts of Simi
Valley, Thousand Oaks and
Moorpark.
Southern California Edi-
son confirmed Wednesday
evening that the fire broke
out in its service territory
near one of its sub-transmis-
sion lines, which was not de-
energized at the time of igni-
tion. The exact cause of the
fire remains unknown.
The utility has notified
the California Public Util-
ities Commission that there
was activity on the sub-
transmission line around
the reported time of the fire,
spokesman Robert Villegas
said.
Rory Kaplan, who has
lived just south of the library
for nearly two decades, fled
among an exodus of neigh-
bors Wednesday morning.
About 26,000 people were
evacuated because of the
Easy fire, officials said.
“One thing is sure,” Kap-
lan said. “They aren’t going
to let Reagan’s library burn
— and that protects us.”
For many in the state,
evacuating their homes has
become a familiar routine as
wildfires threaten the same
suburban neighborhoods
yearly. That is particularly
true in Ventura County,
where the Woolsey fire was
sparked last November and
where, the year before, the
Thomas fire grew to become
the largest fire in state
history at the time.
Kris Mae, 69, hunkered
down at an evacuation cen-
ter in Thousand Oaks on
Wednesday after leaving her
home a few miles from the li-
brary. Her car had been
packed for a month, with
several suitcases, boxes of
important files and a fire
safe — just in case.
“It’s too hard to pack and
unpack over and over,” she
said.
Though California has
experienced multiple deadly
blazes in the last few years,
weather officials warned
that this week could lend it-
self to conditions that are
even worse.
Abnormally strong winds
that began Tuesday night
are expected to continue
through Thursday and
could reach up to 80 mph inmountain areas. Such wind
conditions, which weather
officials deemed “extreme
red-flag” danger, have not
been seen since 2007, when
they helped unleash the
sixth-most destructive fire
in California history.
Ernie Muro, 73, walked
his Chihuahua mix Lulu
through his lush yard
Wednesday afternoon in
Simi Valley’s Wood Ranch
neighborhood, preparing to
leave when the time came.
As he stood outside, helicop-
ters repeatedly dropped wa-
ter near the avocado or-
chard next to his house.
“We’ve had [fires] all
around us before,” Muro
said. “This time of year is
nerve-racking.”
By midday Wednesday,
Southern California was fac-
ing peak fire weather, with
winds of up to 78 mph at
Boney Peak in the Santa
Monica Mountains in Ven-
tura County, while relative
humidity fell to rock bottom.
The air was exceedingly
dry throughout Ventura
County. Relative humidity
was 8% at Sinaloa Lake and
7% in Moorpark. With the
winds, that could be a dan-
gerous combination, ex-
perts said.
The forecast of extreme
Santa Ana winds prompted
Southern California Edison
to say it might shut off power
to more than 340,000 cus-
tomers in Los Angeles, Ven-
tura, Santa Barbara, San
Bernardino and Riverside
counties.
Also Wednesday, a fire in
the Riverside County town
of Nuevo began shortly after
7 a.m., burning several
structures. Hours later, the
Hill fire in the Jurupa Valley
community of Riverside
County prompted manda-
tory evacuations and closed
the 60 Freeway in both direc-
tions. The Brea Canyon fire
in eastern Los Angeles
County burned 5 acres at
Brea Canyon Road and
briefly forced closure of the
57 Freeway.
The Getty fire, whichdamaged 12 homes Monday,
continued to keep more than
7,000 people out of their
homes in and around Brent-
wood. As of Wednesday
morning, the blaze was 27%
contained, but increasing
containment any further be-
came challenging because of
the powerful winds.
As conditions worsened
in Southern California, the
weather farther north pro-
vided a respite for firefight-
ers who had been battling
strong winds.
Firefighters in wine coun-
try were able to double the
containment of the massive
Kincade fire to 30% as of
Wednesday morning, ac-
cording to the California De-
partment of Forestry and
Fire Protection. The fire has
already burned 76,825 acres
and destroyed nearly 100
homes, officials say.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
said Wednesday that it
would begin restoring power
to customers whose electric-
ity was shut off this week in
its latest bid to reduce wild-
fire risk. Crews will inspect
utility lines, repair damage
and restore power to about
365,000 customers in its
service area, except for Kern
County, which is still experi-
encing strong winds, accord-
ing to PG&E.
Muro, who was wander-
ing in his yard in Simi Valley,
said he and his family would
evacuate either when they
got notified to do so, or when
the fire felt too close.
Muro moved to the neigh-
borhood because it’s quiet —
usually — with views of
rolling hillsides.
“Why would you want to
live anywhere else?” he said
as Lulu sat at his feet in the
yard, patiently waiting. “It’s
beautiful.”Times staff writers Soumya
Karlamangla, Colleen
Shalby, Alex Wigglesworth,
Rong-Gong Lin II, Thomas
Curwen, Alejandra
Reyes-Velarde and Nina
Agrawal contributed to this
report.PARAMEDICS TRANSPORT a resident from the Riverside Heights Healthcare Center in Jurupa Valley amid thick smoke as the Hill fire grew dangerously close.
Gina FerazziLos Angeles TimesHigh winds drive several wildfires
BILLY MACFARLANEuses a garden hose to douse embers on his family’s ranch
on Tierra Rejada Road in Simi Valley as the Easy fire burns Wednesday morning.
Al SeibLos Angeles Times
PEOPLE RUNfrom Castle Rock Farms during evacuations in Simi Valley. The
blaze forced about 26,000 to evacuate and burned at least one home, officials said.Brian van der BrugLos Angeles TimesROBYN PHIPPS, left, and Laura Horvitz help evacuate goats from a ranch along
Tierra Rejada Road, where the Easy fire chewed through 1,400 acres of dry brush.Al SeibLos Angeles TimesActive fireKincade fireBurris fireTick fireGetty fireEasy fireLos Angeles Hill fireSan FranciscoSacramentoSources: Nextzen, OpenStreetMap, Cal Fire, InciWeb
Jon Schleuss Los Angeles TimesActive fires
(as of Oct. 30)[Wildfires,from A1]