Home / Disasters and Accidents / Firefighters Battle Rapidly Spreading Canyon Fire in Ventura and LA Counties
Firefighters Battle Rapidly Spreading Canyon Fire in Ventura and LA Counties
8 Aug
Summary
- Canyon Fire spreads to over 7.6 square miles with no containment
- 400 personnel battle blaze with planes and helicopters
- Firefighters make progress overnight, but fire remains uncontained
On Thursday, the Canyon Fire erupted in the dry, steep terrain of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, rapidly spreading to cover over 7.6 square miles by 11 PM that night. As of Friday morning, the fire remained uncontained, though firefighters had made significant progress in their efforts to bring it under control.
More than 400 personnel, along with several planes and helicopters, were deployed to battle the blaze. Overnight, they took advantage of lower temperatures to directly attack the fire, and by Friday, they were reporting subdued fire behavior. "They were putting it all on the line to bring this fire under control," said Andrew Dowd, a public information officer for the county fire department.
While no civilian injuries were reported, one firefighter suffered a minor injury. Additionally, two minor structures were lost, but no single-family or multi-family residences were destroyed. Authorities had issued evacuation orders and warnings for thousands of residents in the affected areas, but the evacuation zones in Ventura County were relatively unpopulated.
The Canyon Fire comes as a massive wildfire in central California, the Gifford Fire, has become the state's largest blaze of the year, threatening hundreds of homes and burning out of control in the Los Padres National Forest. Wildfire risk is expected to remain elevated across much of inland California through the weekend as a heatwave intensifies.
