Local Teams Fight Fire Near San Diego

Two firefighting strike teams from Ventura County on Thursday continued to help fight a massive wildfire 30 miles east of San Diego.

Forty firefighters from the county as well as the Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula and Naval Base Ventura County fire departments were at the fire by Thursday afternoon, said Sandi Wells, a spokeswoman for the Ventura County Fire Department.

Hand crews from the California Department of Corrections Ventura Camp were also battling the blaze, which had consumed more than 11,000 acres by Thursday evening and forced the evacuation of about 600 people from their homes near the town of Alpine.

Wells said the two strike teams included 30 firefighters, five engines and a bulldozer from the Ventura County Fire Department as well as three-person engine companies from Ventura, Oxnard and Santa Paula.

More than 1,800 firefighters from across California battled the fire Thursday.

The Ventura County team left for the firestorm about 4 p.m. Wednesday after a call for mutual assistance from the state and federally operated Operations Control Center in Riverside.

Wells said Ventura County fire officials organized the contingent as part of a mutual aid plan started in 1972 after a series of Southern California wildfires in October 1970 blackened more than 500,000 acres and caused $233 million in damage.

Crews from the two strike teams will continue protecting homes near the fire line until the fire is contained, Wells said.