Ventura County brush fires: 75,000 homes under evacuation as Woolsey Fire rapidly grows

One of two wind-driven brush fires that erupted in Ventura County Thursday exploded to 8,000 acres amid even stronger winds early Friday. Approximately 75,000 homes are under evacuation orders along the Ventura-Los Angeles border.

The blaze, dubbed the Woolsey Fire, started in Simi Valley near the Rocketdyne facility in the Santa Susana Pass.

The fast-moving fire jumped the 101 Freeway at Chesebro Road at about 5:15 a.m. and is established on the south side of freeway, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. The jump forced the freeway to close again in both directions at Liberty Canyon Road as approximately 3 acres is burning and moving uphill, according to the California Highway Patrol.

By early Friday morning, the fire had grown to 8,000 acres with 0 percent containment. Multiple structures are damaged and destroyed, according to Los Angeles Fire Department Public Information Officer Erik Scott.

Among the homes ruined in the blaze, several were in the Oak Park area.

About 75,000 homes were forced to evacuate just for the Woolsey Fire, Scott said. No injuries have been reported.

Ventura County fire officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for Saddlebow between Maverick Lane and Morgan Road in Bell Canyon, north of the 101 Freeway, south of Bell Canyon Road, west of Valley Circle, east of the 23 Freeway, north of Kanan Road and west of Lindero Canyon to the 23 Freeway, extending north of Sunset Hills Boulevard and along Erbes Road to Olson Road. The evacuations also include north of Sunset Hills Boulevard, south of Olson Road and west of the 23 Freeway. South of 101 Freeway and north of Mulholland Highway are also included in the evacuation orders, as well as west of Las Virgenes Road and east of Westlake Boulevard.

Evacuations in Hidden Hills and all portions in the city of Los Angeles have been revised from mandatory to voluntary. Voluntary evacuations have bee added in Ventura County for Lake Sherwood and the area south of Highway 101 and north of Potrero Road between Westlake Boulevard and Wendy Drive in Thousand Oaks, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.

The destructive flames are tearing through neighborhoods as wind gusts reach upwards of 30 and 40 mph. Strong winds are expected to diminish between 10 a.m. and noon.

A second fire burning in the Santa Rosa Valley east of Camarillo, west of Simi Valley near Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks, was mere miles from the scene of a deadly mass shooting that claimed 12 lives Wednesday night.

Ventura County fire authorities estimated the size of the blaze at upwards of 15,000 acres, but then officials downgraded the blaze to about 7,000 acres Thursday night. Cal Fire tweeted that the blaze was about 10,000 acres.

An update has not been released as of Friday morning.

Structures could be seen burning from the air as a line of flames closed in on a large residential area near Old Conejo Road.

Mandatory evacuations were issued for Cal State Channel Islands, Vallecito Mobile Home Park and the Camarillo Springs and Dos Vientos areas, authorities said. Point Magu Naval Base was under voluntary evacuation orders.

Fire officials estimated that 1,200 homes were evacuated in the Camarillo Springs and Dos Vientos areas.

Hundreds of Ventura County firefighters and eight air tankers were battling the flames on the ground and from above.

Plumes of thick, white smoke could be seen rising above the burn site as strong Santa Ana winds drove the flames amid red flag conditions.

The cause of the fires remain under investigation.