Despite more gusty wind, firefighters held the lines overnight Wednesday on Ventura County's "Easy" brush fire, which has burned about 1700 acres on land in Simi Valley, and at one point threatened about 7000 homes.
By 7 a.m. Thursday, firefighters say they had 10% containment. Highway 23 also reopened between Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, after being closed by the fire all day Wednesday.
At daybreak Thursday, only some small puffs of smoke were visible on the western side of the blaze, which started near Easy Street, and burned south.
On Wednesday, flames from the wind whipped fire spread rapidly, at one point coming close to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. It was undamaged by the blaze.
Firefighters tried to use the 118 Freeway, the 23 freeway, plus Madera and Olsen Road as a perimeter to prevent the fire from spreading. The strategy worked. It briefly jumped the 23 Wednesday afternoon near Tierra Rejada Road, but some fire retardant drops with jumbo jets help stop the spread of the fire. By nine Wednesday night, mandatory evacuation orders were lifted for all areas west of Highway 23.
They say as of Thursday, one home has been confirmed destroyed, as well as another structure destroyed or damaged. Some outbuildings were also lost.
The big question for firefighters Thursday is the wind. It's expected to remain gusty, but at decreasing levels as we move through the day. The Red Flag Warning is set to expire at 6 p.m. Thursday, but even if that happens, brush fire danger will remain high because of low humidity. They are hoping to expand the containment level during the day Thursday. The number of firefighters assigned to the blaze has dropped from 1000 to 700, and in the absence of threatening flames many of the aerial resources will be shifted to more threatening fires elsewhere.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but Southern California Edison officials say there were issues with some of their equipment in the general area where the fire started.
