Utter devastation as Mountain fire levels hillside neighborhoods

Residents in the foothills above Camarillo are grappling with scenes of utter destruction after the Mountain fire flattened scores of homes.

More than 130 structures were lost, the majority of them houses, when flames swept through the area, and more than 80 others were damaged.

“The only thing left standing of our house is the two chimneys,” said resident Darren Kettle. “It was just, my heart dropped to my stomach. It’s just shocking, traumatic. … Speechless. Just the range of emotions.”

Fierce Santa Ana winds were expected to ease somewhat Friday, lessening the chance of the fire spreading farther. But in neighborhoods that were ravaged by the fire on Wednesday, the painful process of assessing the damage is just beginning.

The Mountain fire has burned more than 20,400 acres, with parts of Camarillo and Moorpark hardest hit. The greatest devastation happened Wednesday when the fire swept unchecked through some neighborhoods. Winds were so powerful that retardant-dropping aircraft could not fly for several hours.

Planes were back in the air Thursday, and that helped in the battle, along with firefighters from across the region who joined in the effort. The flames were fueled by a wind event that was the fiercest seen in years, but the winds continued to decrease throughout the day — another assist for firefighters.

Even as it seemed the tide could be turning in the battle against the blaze, residents and officials took in the scope of the damage and were left stunned.

Burned homes at Camarillo Estates on Nov. 7.

(Maxar)

In Camarillo Heights, the remains of burned houses dotted the landscape, seemingly engulfed at random. All that was left of one home on Valley Vista Drive was a chimney and a burned washing machine.

Kettle, chief executive of Metrolink, was among the evacuees.

His house is in Las Posas Estates, near the hills of Camarillo Heights. He and his wife realized the fire was moving in their direction early Wednesday, so they packed up a few items in case an evacuation notice came. It soon did.

“When I left the house, I saw smoke and flames, and it looked like it was blowing in a different direction,” Kettle said. “It just takes one ember in a bad spot.”

Later, people started to send pictures and videos that showed Kettle’s home, and those of several neighbors, burning. A neighbor confirmed the house was lost.

Fire guts a home in Camarillo on Wednesday. The next day, some homeowners began returning to the ruins.

(Jennifer Osborne / For The Times)

Late Thursday afternoon, Breanna Hale stood atop the rubble where her childhood home used to stand. She was devastated.

“My grandma — my mom’s mom — just passed away very recently, and this was their house,” she said. “It’s very hard. … This is a family home.”

On Wednesday morning, Hale was across town when she got the phone call to evacuate. With her mother in the hospital, no one was at the house, and Hale rushed back, hoping to grab treasured items. When she got to a road closure, she began to run toward the home but was soon stopped by firefighters.

“I was willing to go into burning flames, and they would not let me up here to get anything,” Hale said.

Hale, who is adopted, had just three pictures of her birth parents. Two of them were in that house. She expressed relief at having one remaining photo: “I’m just praying that things happen for a reason, and I got really lucky on some stuff.”

She visited the site of the house on Thursday afternoon for the first time with a shovel in her hand, sifting through the smoldering ashes looking for anything of sentimental interest. “My mom, she’s fighting cancer,” Hale said. “So I’m just trying to find the things that matter most to her.”

Brittanie Bibby said her family lost everything in the fire. She, her husband and their baby moved into their Camarillo home two weeks ago after she inherited it from her father.

“All of our family memories,” she said, “all of our possessions, Social Security cards, death certificates, birth certificates, my husband’s father’s ashes, my father’s ashes and my mother’s ashes.”

Even the baby’s inhaler burned. But, she said, “being a mom, I don’t really have a choice to panic or to not think through the steps.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom spent Thursday meeting with first responders and visiting communities affected by the blaze. Around 5 p.m., he proclaimed a state of emergency in Ventura County to help mobilize resources to combat the fast-moving fire.

Times staff writers Richard Winton, Grace Toohey, Nathan Solis and Sandra McDonald contributed to this report.