More than 17,000 people were under evacuation orders in Southern California on Tuesday as a wildfire threatened suburban homes.
The wind-driven Sandy Fire was reported Monday in the hills above Simi Valley, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.
By Tuesday morning, it had consumed more than two square miles (five square kilometers) of dry brush and destroyed at least one home, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.
The flames were initially pushed by gusts that topped 30 mph (48 kph), but firefighters were aided by calmer winds overnight, said department spokesperson Andrew Dowd.
“We’ve made a lot of progress against this fire with those improved weather conditions,” Dowd said. Crews hoped to make further progress before winds increased again, he said.
There was zero containment. The cause is under investigation.
Evacuation orders and warnings were still in place for several neighborhoods in Simi Valley, a city of more than 125,000 people.
This link is to the CalFire Incident Map, which lets you see all current wildfires, with evacuation zones, plus the aircraft fighting them. The defense against the Sandy Fire isn’t being run by CalFire but it’s still shown.
We got an insane amount of rain towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year (compared to our normal), so there was an unusual amount of growth on the hills. On the other hand, this one is in (a small part of) the 2018 Woolsey Canyon fire burn scar, so it’s grass and new growth, not decades of built up fuel.
Stay safe everyone!
