Fast-moving fire prompts evacuations in Simi Valley

A fast-moving brush fire ignited and grew amid windy weather in Simi Valley to more than 1,300 acres on Monday, May 18, threatening neighborhoods and forcing evacuations.

The Sandy fire broke out near Sandy Avenue just before 11 a.m. in Ventura County, fueled by dry temperature and driven by gusty winds.

The blaze immediately moved quickly — it had rolled through more than 100 acres within its first hour, and tens of thousands of residents were evacuated.

Firefighters fought to keep the flames away from thousands of nearby homes, making repeated water drops as the flames rapidly approached residential homes in the Bridle Path neighborhood, an equestrian community in the southwestern foothills of the county.

Officials by late morning warned that the blaze was moving “dangerously fast.”

The flames spread into the backyard of Jennifer de le Torre’s neighbor on Sunnydale Avenue.

“We’ve had several fires in the neighborhood, but it hasn’t come quite this close to us before,” she said.

Her neighbors stayed in their backyard, hosing down trees as aircrafts continued water dumps. A rooftop sprinkler system coated the roof of another, nearby home.

She said about 40% of the homeowners in this area are equestrians. She and her husband had their horses ready to evacuate.

“The time to train your horse to load in the trailer is not when there’s a fire,” she said.

Nearby residents in southern Simi Valley were ordered to evacuate the area.

Those evacuations included students at Crestview Elementary and Mountain View Elementary, according to fire officials.

School district officials earlier in the day announced that students were sheltering in place inside classrooms due to air quality, but added that the students were safe. Later, the elementary school students were taken to Simi Valley High School.

The Simi Valley Unified School District cancelled classes for all students on Tuesday, May 19 “out of an abundance of caution,” according to a post on the district’s Facebook page.

The evacuation-warning area — for those not yet ordered to leave their home or business — expanded toward Thousand Oaks through the early afternoon. By early evening, a new round of evacuation orders were announced as the flames began to change direction from the southwest to the southeast, including Bell Canyon.

Evacuation warnings extended into Los Angeles County on Monday evening, including parts of West Hills and Calabasas.

A temporary evacuation center was opened at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park. For evacuation information: fire.ca.gov/incidents

More than 500 firefighters were on the scene, aided by at least three air tankers and six helicopters, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Through the afternoon, authorities requested additional strike teams, as the fire continued to burn with no containment, although an hour later firefighters appeared to be getting a better handle on the blaze.

The crews were aided by routine weather patterns in the area, as the warm dry wind from the inland desert area shifted in the afternoon to the cooler, moister ocean breeze. That in turn slowed the movement of the flames into Bridle Path.

“The fire is slowing,” said Scott Dettorre, a Ventura County Fire Department spokesman shortly before 3 p.m. “We are making progress.”

By 5 p.m., the fire was largely burning in the large expanse of woodland generally bordered by the 118, 101, 23 and 405 freeways, officials said. Hundreds of firefighters and engines remained to protect homes and other structures if the gusty wind picked up again.

More aircraft was expected to arrive late in the day, said Andy Van Sciver, a Ventura County Fire Department spokesman.

“We are just working really hard to get to sundown so then we can hammer it,” Sciver said of the blaze. “We are going to continue to hit it with the air units as long as we can.”

Aerial water drops were expected to continue until the forward progress of the fire is completely stopped.

At least one home was seriously damaged.

A Southern California News Group photographer saw a home and its garage burning on Trickling Brook Court and two people taking a horse to safety on Sunnyvale Avenue.

One seven-year Simi Valley resident who lives three doors down from the fire told KNN News that he’s never seen anything like this before.

“We’re helping our neighbors all evacuate, and water down their roofs and everything,” he said not long after the Sandy fire erupted, a smoky backdrop behind him. “This thing is getting out of hand.”

Residents walked horses through a neighborhood as a Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter flew overheard.

Another resident who lives near the home that burned — and saw flames come right up to their property — described to Fox11 racing back to their house to get their pets out of the residence. The sky went dark with smoke and embers as the flames came near, the resident said.

“It was really scary, I’ve never been engulfed in embers like that,” the woman told Fox11.

She wasn’t sure if the couple who live in the home that burned were at there at the time. She described them as a nice couple who keep to themselves.

An official cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

But ABC7 reported that police had received a report of a fire in the area possibly being ignited when someone clearing brush with a tractor hit a rock. Simi Valley police could not be immediately reached for comment, and ABC7 reported that the department could not confirm if that incident is what started the fire, reportedly describing it instead as a “possibility.”

According to the National Weather Service, gusty northeast Santa Ana winds are expected to continue for several hours, but weaken through the afternoon, evening and overnight.

But, in the meantime, gusts of up to 45 mph were expected in the area, along with a temperature in the upper 70s to low 80s.

Steve Golding, 72, was working at his job for a hospital from home in the Woodranch area of Simi Valley when strong winds caught his attention.

He took his lunch break and noticed a big, black cloud.

“The smoke was coming towards us and I couldn’t breathe, so that’s when I said, ‘I’m leaving,’ ” he said.

Police helped evacuate Golding and his neighbors, and he fit everything into his car, collecting photos from his mantle.

He saw many people evacuate their horses from the equestrian-heavy area, and fire retardant getting dropped by aircraft as he left.

He went to the Rancho Santa Susana Community Center, where disaster workers provided snacks and water as he and many of his neighbors waited for word about returning to their neighborhood.

Steve Medina, a member of the American Red Cross Communications team, said people began to arrive shortly after noon, looking for resources and a place to rest.

“We’ve had a lot of dogs, pets,” he said.

Several people held and walked their dogs at the temporary shelter, also awaiting news about the fire.

In neighboring Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced that fire crews were assisting those in Ventura County. There was no immediate threat to residents in Los Angeles County.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.