California highway shutdown, residents evacuated in massive wildfire

The 1,238-acre blaze in the steep foothills northwest of Ventura was 60 percent contained by nightfall Saturday and no homes burned, fire officials said at a news conference.

There have been no injuries or structures lost with this fire. It was closed late Friday nearly immediately after the fire began, forcing holiday motorists to narrow, backcountry roads.

The fire charred more than 1,200 acres between the coastal cities of Ventura and Carpentaria. It was reopened Saturday afternoon.

The wind-driven wildfire broke out Christmas night and quickly grew, at one point jumping the 101 Freeway, prompting a full closure through the Ventura area and up to the Santa Barbara County line.

The California Ventura County Fire Department urged that people adhere to both the mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders so that they wouldn’t be cut off from help in case of an emergency. “We had motorists making U-turns going opposing directions on the freeway with other motorists, not realizing the situation”.

A private power line downed by offshore winds was blamed for the fast-moving brushfire, firefighters said. “It’s still not a contained fire so I just want to caution that any openings that do happen are subject to being closed again if the fire changes direction.” said Cmdr.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. “We’re not quite out of the woods yet”.

The fire started at around 11om local time on Friday near Ventura, which is about 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Officials said multiple fire agencies were assisting with the fire, including the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

“We are hitting it with everything we’ve got”, says chief Norm Plott.

Authorities said that the Red Cross opened a shelter at the Carpinteria Veteran’s Memorial Building, which is located at 941 Walnut Avenue in Carpinteria.