"This fire was stubborn. The last few days have been a challenging firefight," said Andrew Dowd, with the Ventura County Fire Department.
Dowd was talking about the Sandy Fire, which started on the south side of Simi Valley on Monday morning. An army of firefighters was able to protect much of the community within hours, but flare-ups along some of the borders of the blaze created significant threats into mid-week.
"There's still a lot of work to do," noted Dowd. "There are areas of the fire that have to be mopped up. We need to make sure we're controlling the fire line, that we're not seeing any increases, and that we're ready to attack spot fires that go across the line."
While there are no longer visible large-scale flames or smoke, Dowd said they want to ensure that it's completely safe before all evacuation orders and warnings are cancelled.
"All of us have two objectives. It's to protect people, and to make sure they're safe and out of harm's way, but also to get them back into homes, and lift evacuation orders when we're able to do so," said Dowd.
Firefighters are getting help from the weather. Milder temperatures and low winds are predicted through the holiday weekend and into the middle of next week.
