Firefighters say they’re making progress in the battle against the explosive 20,000 acre plus Mountain Fire, which has been since Wednesday in Ventura County.
It’s destroyed 132 structures, mostly homes, and damaged another 88. Those numbers are expected to increase as disaster response teams survey the fire zone.
The fierce Santa Ana winds which pushed it out of control have subsided, and containment is up to 14%.
There’s good news for more than half of the 10,000 people evacuated because of the Mountain Fire.
Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff says they can go home.“So far, we’ve been able to repopulate 3500 homes. However, there are still 2000 homes that aren’t repopulated,” said Fryhoff.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Ryan Walburn says firefighters are getting a break. The exceptionally strong Santa Ana winds which fueled the fire have ended.
“The key thing through the weekend is light winds,” said Wakburn. “There’s no concerns for any Red Flag events.”
But, firefighters are keeping a close eye on the weather. There’s the potential for another, but much milder Santa Ana wind event next week.
