You could hear the crackle of the Sandy Fire as it moved through thick brush and chaparral off of Simi Valley's Rocking Horse Drive. The neighborhood is adjacent to rugged, undeveloped mountain slopes. It's in an evacuation zone, but not everyone left.
Brent Richter used a garden hose to water down some brush between the hillside and a ranch home.
"We are making things wet so we can have what they call a dirty burn, which burns slower, and gives us more opportunity to put out the flames," said Richter. "I live right next door. So, we're helping everybody. We want to make sure everyone has a house when they come home."
"We've lived here 39 years," explained neighborhood resident Gabriella Reese. "We've been through a few fires. But, this one is a little concerning, because of the wind, and the way it is right now."
But stopping the fire isn’t easy. Many of the hillsides to the south of Simi Valley are so rugged that they can’t be accessed by fire trucks or even firefighter hand crews. A fleet of helicopters from different agencies attacked the inferno from the air.
Andrew Dowd, with the Ventura County Fire Department, said a dangerous mix of elements set the stage for the fire.
"Anytime we have a wildfire, there are three main factors we are concerned with," said Dowd. "There's the fuel, the brush, and the grasses which are burning. There's the topography, because fire burns more quickly uphill than downhill. And, of course, there is the weather. This fire was a wind-driven fire. Wind-driven fires move very quickly. Part of the reason we encourage residents to be so resilient and prepared for wildfires is exactly situations like this, a wildfire that can quickly spread into neighborhoods."
But, Dowd said, what helped with this fire is that many of the homes had good brush clearance, giving firefighters a better chance at saving structures.
Christian Udata said he was at work when he saw a huge cloud of smoke coming from the area near Sandy Avenue and realized it was moving towards his home on Rocking Horse Drive.
"I was at my shop, at work. It's down on Los Angeles Avenue, about eight minutes away. I saw black smoke, and I saw it traveling into my area," said Udata. "I went into the Casual Court area (a street a few blocks from his home). It was pitch black. It was incredible. It was surreal. I traveled home and helped my neighbors get their animals out. I don't have any animals. I was trying to help whoever needed help with their horses."
Udata admits the fast-moving fire was scarier than the ones he experienced in the past, but feels like firefighters moved quickly to protect their homes.
One of Udata’s neighbors, Mike O’Neil, hadn’t evacuated yet, but said he was ready to leave if necessary.
"I'm staged, ready to go," said O'Neil. He said they went through this a few years ago, during a fire with even stronger winds.
O'Neill points to a hill behind some homes in the neighborhood. "That whole hill burned, clear down to the backyards of these homes. They (firefighters) set up strike teams all along the fire road and stopped the flames." He was very calm as he talked about the latest situation. "You don't want to panic or freak out in a situation like this. You have to maintain a level of calmness."
Soon, there were fire crews spread throughout the neighborhood, helping to keep the flames away from the homes.
As another firefighting helicopter made a water drop in the neighborhood, it was a reminder that the dramatic mountain backdrop, which makes it so beautiful, comes with risks. Today, though, firefighters came out on top, stopping the flames before they could move through the homes.
