Wildfire forces evacuations in Southern California

A wildfire raged out of control Saturday morning along the Southern California coast, forcing evacuations, and closing a major freeway. Authorities confirmed that the blaze was started by a downed power line.

Earlier, a 15-mile stretch of Interstate 101 was reopened.

Firefighters responded to multiple calls of a brush fire about 10 miles north of Ventura shortly after 11 p.m. Friday along Highway 101, which was closed from West Main Street in Ventura to Route 150 in Santa Barbara, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Firefighters have gained the upper hand on a wildfire northwest of Los Angeles that burned about 500 hectares of land, forced the closure of parts of a major highway and led to evacuations.

Los Angeles County sent 30 firefighters and a helicopter to help fight the blaze.

That’s where firefighters made their stand, preventing flames from reaching Solimar Beach, where three dozen upscale homes are sandwiched between the highway and the Pacific Ocean. The 101 Freeway was shut down in both directions – northbound at State Route 33 and southbound at Bates Road.

During a press briefing Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m, authorities stated the fire grew to 1,200 acres.

Norm Plott of the Ventura County Fire Department. Maks can be heard in the video saying in her native tongue, “We will catch fire…they should close this road, this is insane”. “It’s a very dynamic fire. The fire’s receptive to spotting and we’re not out of the woods yet”.

The fire may have been started by a power line that went down on private property.

Crews will remain on scene scouting out hot areas that have potential to ignite unburned vegetation.

Pilot Jim Dalton makes water drops to keep Solimar Beach fire from spreading to homes on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015.

People in the Solimar Beach area were ordered to leave their homes but that mandatory order was lifted late Saturday afternoon, fire officials said. However, with the wildfire contained, the orders were subsequently cancelled.

Santa Paula firefighters attack hot spots from the Solimar Fire along 101 Freeway. The winds picked up again Saturday night but didn’t expand the fire.