A brush fire in Southern California's Ventura County has reportedly worsened since it began before 7 a.m. Thursday, says the Los Angeles Times.
The flames have already burned more than 10,000 acres, stoked by 40 mph winds and temperatures in the high 90s. 15 homes have been decimated. Only 10% of the fire was contained late Thursday.
By Friday, the dry winds were still pushing the fire southwest, in an area covered in dry, old brush.
"This is burning in an area that hasn't burned in over 20 years," a battalion chief with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Nick Shuler told the LA Times. "There's very thick, dead vegetation in there."
Local weather officials claim that the wind gusts will drop to around 30 mph, but temperatures will continue rising into the high 90s. At the present time, the humidity near the flames has dropped from 58 percent to 28 percent. The National Weather Service expects humidity to drop below 10% by the end of Friday.
Hundreds of residents in Ventura County have had to evacuate their homes, in particularly affected communities such as Deer Creek and Yerba Buena.
Two such residents, Terry Doebler and her husband Paul, had never seen a blaze so enormous, even having lived in Ventura County for 15 years.
"I opened the front door and the whole mountain was on fire," Paul Doebler told the LA Times.
They were forced to leave home, grabbing their Labrador retriever Mandy, headed for an evacuation center at the Calvary Chapel Nexus church in nearby Camarillo.
Emergency crews returned Friday morning to resume an air attack on the flames, which are still licking Ventura County.
The crews were also igniting backfires around the larger flames, in hopes of progress before the weather gets even warmer.
"We're fighting it the old-fashioned down-and-dirty way with boots on the ground," Bill Nash, Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson said.
"It's hot, dangerous, dirty work."
