The Hillside fire was burning near the San Bernardino National Forest and quickly spread into neighborhoods early Thursday, consuming at least 200 acres and burning homes as authorities rushed to evacuate sleeping residents. Embers flew onto residential streets, igniting palm trees and setting homes ablaze.
Another fire in Jurupa Valley near Riverside had burned several structures, causing evacuations.
The biggest firefight was in Ventura County, where 1,000 firefighters trying to control the wind-driven Easy fire that surrounded the Reagan Library were stymied by intense gusts that sent embers flying far beyond the body of the blaze. As the fire burned Wednesday, helicopters repeatedly dropped loads of water around the Reagan complex, which is perched atop a hill blanketed in dense brush, amid 60-mph winds that were strong enough to knock a person off balance.
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President Ronald Reagan’s Air Force One sits on display at the Reagan Library as the Easy fire burns in the neighboring hills in Simi Valley. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Inmate crews set backfires to heavy brush along Madera Rd. as firefighters try to keep the Easy fire from crossing the road into Thousand Oaks, Calif. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters Iann Miller, left and Austin Houck, right, from Cal Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit on patrol and mop up of the Easy Fire around the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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Helicopters drop water after inmate crews set backfires to heavy brush along Madera Rd. as firefighters try to keep the Easy fire from crossing the road into Thousand Oaks. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Robyn Phipps, left, & Laura Horvitz rescue goats from a ranch along Tierra Rejada Road. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters from a Ventura City and Oxnard City Fire work to extinguish hot spots from the Easy fire along Tierra Rejada Road. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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SIMI VALLEY CA OCTOBER 30, 2019 — Trisha Trifunovich, right, holds up Jennifer Porter, left, as gusts of wind almost blow people over in the Easy fire zone near a Simi Valley Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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Helicopters hit flames and burning brush along Madera Road as firefighters battle the Easy fire in Simi Valley. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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A statue of President Ronald Reagan titled “Along The Trail” stands outside the Reagan Library as the Easy Fire burns in the background in Simi Valley. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Billy Macfarlane uses a garden hose to put out embers from the Easy fire threatening his family’s ranch on Tierra Rejada Road in Simi Valley. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Dean Cato and his son, Robert, arrive to help friend Billy Macfarlane save his family’s ranch on Tierra Rejada Road in Simi Valley. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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A horse runs free on Tierra Rejada Road early Oct. 30 as the Easy fire burns toward neighborhoods in Simi Valley. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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John Malta waters down mulch at his home while firefighters battle the Easy fire in Simi Valley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Equestrians flee with their horses as they evacuate Castle Rock Farms while firefighters battle the Easy fire in Simi Valley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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People run as they flee Castle Rock Farms while firefighters battle the Easy fire in Simi Valley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Brent Lamb prepares to move horses at a ranch along Tierra Rejada Road between Simi Valley and Moorpark as the Easy fire burns. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Jose Gutierrez evacuates horses in Simi Valley as the Easy fire burns Oct. 30 in Simi Valley. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Smoke from the Easy fire on Tierra Rejada Road between Simi Valley and Moorpark. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Firefighters credited an intense surge in pre-deployed firefighting resources to preventing the fire so far from destroying homes.
Officials say the preparations for the winds this time have given them a fighting chance that they didn’t have last year, when the Woolsey fire — one of California’s most destructive on record — burned more than 1,000 homes and resulted in three deaths. Officials have said the battle against that fire was hampered by a lack of resources.
Legislation passed in Sacramento, first signed by Gov. Jerry Brown and then made permanent under Gov. Gavin Newsom, has allocated millions of dollars to pre-position firefighting resources during severe fire weather. As a result, on Wednesday, after the weather service’s extreme fire weather warning, a lot more firefighters were prepared to tackle the fire that bounded toward the presidential library, a repository of records and artifacts from the Reagan administration, Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said.
Southern California Edison confirmed Wednesday evening that the Easy fire, which has burned 1,650 acres, broke out in its service territory near one of its sub-transmission lines, which was not de-energized at the time of ignition. The utility has notified the California Public Utilities Commission that there was activity on the sub-transmission line around the reported time of the fire, spokesman Robert Villegas said.
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Family members look on as firefighters mop up a burned down home destroyed by the Hillside Fire in San Bernardino. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters mop up a wreckage of burned down home destroyed by the Hillside Fire in San Bernardino. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters mop up a wreckage of burned down home destroyed by the Hillside Fire in San Bernardino. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters pour water on a home destroyed by the Hillside fire on 5700 elk of Saturn Court Thursday morning in San Bernardino. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Homeowners watch firefighters douse what is left of their home on 5700 elk of Saturn Court destroyed by the Hillside fire in San Bernardino. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters pour water on a home destroyed by the Hillside fire on 5700 elk of Saturn Court Thursday morning in San Bernardino. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters work to contain the Hillside fire in the North Park neighborhood of San Bernardino. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters work to contain the Hillside fire in the North Park neighborhood of San Bernardino. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters work to contain the Hillside fire in the North Park neighborhood of San Bernardino. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters work to contain the Hillside fire in the North Park neighborhood of San Bernardino. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters work to contain the Hillside fire in the North Park neighborhood of San Bernardino. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters work to control the flames as embers blown by the wind threaten to burn other homes in the North Park neighborhood of San Bernardino. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Rob Haberkorn, 71, gets a hug from his son Robert W. Haberkron after returning to his home and finding it unscathed after the Hillside fire burned through the area in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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A family member views the destruction of a home that was destroyed in the Hillside fire in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Other smaller fires erupted in communities including Riverside, Santa Clarita, Brea, Whittier, Lancaster, Calabasas, Fullerton, Long Beach, Nuevo and Jurupa Valley.
A fire that began south of the U.S.-Mexico border late Wednesday night was also halted by firefighters.
In Northern California, the Kincade fire that roared through Sonoma County wine country was under control Thursday as more evacuations were lifted.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the blaze was 60% contained after burning 76,000 acres and nearly 100 structures. It was a big fire but far less destructive than the 2017 wine country fire storms that destroyed thousands of homes and killed dozens.
But the extreme winds that fanned the fire were replaced by freezing temperatures. The National Weather Service issued a frost warning for parts of Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties, with temperatures dropping to the 30s in some cities and the 20s in hillside locations. Healdsburg, one of the cities threatened by the fire, recorded a 26-degree low Thursday morning.
