It’s been a long Monday for Ventura County firefighters, with two brush fires in the Santa Clara River Valley.
A blaze south of Piru started just after 6 Monday night, burning around 40 acres of brush in a remote foothills area south of Highway 126. Firefighters have been hitting it hard with aircraft.
Meanwhile, fire crews are mopping up a brush fire that’s burned about 15 acres of land in the Santa Clara Riverbed, south of Santa Paula.
The Maria Fire started just after 3 p.m. on Monday. About 140 firefighters, aided by two helicopters, helped fight the fire.
It put up a large plume of smoke visible in much of western Ventura County. No structures have been reported damaged.
