{"id":128212,"date":"2025-08-08T05:07:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T05:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/128212\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T05:07:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T05:07:21","slug":"fast-growing-canyon-fire-forces-evacuations-amid-socal-heat-wave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/128212\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast-growing Canyon fire forces evacuations amid SoCal heat wave"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A rapidly growing wildfire straddling the Ventura-Los Angeles county line Thursday afternoon triggered evacuations in and around Piru and Castaic amid a major heat wave that officials <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-08-05\/la-me-extended-heat-wave-elevate-fire-danger-california\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">warned could foster extreme fire growth and behavior<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The Canyon fire was initially reported to be about 30 acres, but within about two hours that estimate jumped to over 1,000 acres, according to <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/emergency.venturacounty.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ventura County officials<\/a>. By 7:30 p.m., the fire had burned 1,500 acres and was spreading east toward Interstate 5 in L.A. County, threatening the communities of Hasley Canyon, Val Verde and Hathaway Ranch as well as power lines in the area.<\/p>\n<p>The blaze broke out around 2 p.m. near Holser Canyon Road, northeast of Piru \u2014 a small, unincorporated town not far from Castaic Junction, where Interstate 5 meets Highway 126, according to Ventura County officials.<\/p>\n<p>Around 4,000 residents and 1,400 structures were affected by evacuation orders, while an additional 12,500 people and more than 4,000 structures were affected by evacuation warnings, according to Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson Andrew Dowd.<\/p>\n<p>Dowd said affected residents were almost entirely in L.A. County. \u201cIn the area of the fire that\u2019s in Ventura County, we do have four evacuation zones, but it\u2019s a very sparsely populated area, very rural area, and the fire is moving east out of that area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>           <video playsinline=\"playsinline\" loop=\"\" preload=\"none\" title=\"Canyon fire spurs evacuations in Ventura and L.A. counties\" data-video-id=\"00000198-8782-d5c0-a7dc-bfcfabae0000\">               <\/video>                 <img class=\"image\" alt=\"\"   width=\"473\" height=\"840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754629640_683_\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>             <\/p>\n<ul data-element=\"action-bar-menu\" class=\"flex gap-2 list-none  absolute w-full h-10 top-0\">\n<li data-element=\"action-bar-share\" class=\"flex  w-full h-10 top-0 lg:items-center lg:justify-center \">\n<p> Share via     Close extra sharing options  <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Both the Ventura and Los Angeles counties\u2019 fire departments were responding to the scene, where crews were facing temperatures up to 100 degrees with wind gusts up to 25 mph, according to the National Weather Service\u2019s <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NWSLosAngeles\/status\/1953573189738512432\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Los Angeles office<\/a>. Around 250 firefighters, along with 11 fixed-wing aircraft and seven helicopters, were working to battle the fire, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to build a box around this fire and put it out before it gets into any of the potential communities that are currently under evacuation orders,\u201d said Dowd. \u201cOur firefighters are working tirelessly in the heat and steep terrain to make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Ventura County, <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/vcoes.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/e15ca0d2737d43cea6514043e61f1a7c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">evacuation orders<\/a> were issued for the Lake Piru Recreation Area as well as the communities of Camulos and Piru. In L.A. County, <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/protect.genasys.com\/hazards\/66be6702-3f5f-463c-b0e8-6d8bea38eec4?z=14&amp;latlon=34.450431016109675%2C-118.72209830497525\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">evacuation orders<\/a> were issued for the communities of Del Valle, Val Verde, Hasley Canyon and Castaic. Several surrounding areas were under evacuation warnings.<\/p>\n<p>L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the Santa Clarita Valley, urged residents to heed evacuation alerts. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cExtreme heat and low humidity in our north county have created dangerous conditions where flames can spread with alarming speed,\u201d Barger said in a statement. \u201cIf first responders tell you to leave, go\u2014without hesitation. The Eaton Fire showed us how quickly devastation can strike.<\/p>\n<p>An evacuation center was opened in the East Gymnasium of the College of the Canyons, at 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road in Santa Clarita.<\/p>\n<p>            <img class=\"image\" alt=\"Smoke rises from mountains.\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"761\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754629641_189_\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County because of a fast-moving brush fire on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>(KTLA-TV)<\/p>\n<p>Fixed-wing firefighter airplanes were grounded shortly around sunset per aviation regulations, but firefighting helicopters will remain at the scene overnight working with ground crews to try to get a handle on the blaze, Dowd said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose helicopters are in constant communication with our ground resources to identify targets of opportunity, places where they can go in and bring in strategic water drops,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a quick [water drop] turnaround time because of our proximity to Lake Piru.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dowd said he was cautiously optimistic that crews would make strong progress on the fire overnight as winds and temperatures died down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are light winds that are pushing the fire eastward, but we\u2019re not seeing a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-01-17\/chaotic-first-hours-eaton-fire-timeline-maps\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">significant wind-driven fire<\/a> like we saw with <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-08-06\/deaths-from-eaton-and-palisades-fires-could-top-400\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Palisades<\/a>  or the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/environment\/story\/2025-08-01\/this-fire-could-have-been-prevented-how-utilities-fought-removal-of-old-powerlines\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eaton fire<\/a> or the Mountain fire in Ventura County,\u201d he said. \u201cThose were wind-driven fires with long-range spotting that was occurring, and this is much more of a fuel- and terrain- and temperature-driven fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The American Civil Liberties Union raised concerns about the fire\u2019s proximity to the Pitchess Detention Center, where about 5,000 inmates are housed in four jails. The center is east of the 5 Freeway and fell just outside an evacuation warning zone Thursday evening. <\/p>\n<p>Senior staff attorney Melissa Camacho said she was \u201cgravely concerned\u201d about the growing fire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJanuary\u2019s <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-01-22\/hughes-fire-on-the-ground\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hughes fire<\/a> burned within a half-mile of the jails and not a single person incarcerated there was evacuated,\u201d Camacho told The Times. \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking that, less than eight months later, the 5,000 people in the jails and their loved ones will spend another sleepless night watching a fire and praying that it doesn\u2019t reach them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> The L.A. County Sheriff\u2019s Department, which operates the facility, said it was actively monitoring fire conditions and was in constant communication with fire and county officials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSimilar to evacuation plans <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2024-12-10\/through-a-window-pepperdine-students-watch-malibu-fire-engulf-campus\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">implemented at Pepperdine University<\/a> in Malibu, the Fire Department has advised that a shelter in place strategy is the safest option for custody staff and inmates, given the building construction type and current fire behavior,\u201d agency spokesperson Nicole Nishida said in a statement. The area around the building has been cleared of brush and has wide defensible space, she said. <\/p>\n<p>Dowd said he could not predict the fire\u2019s behavior but noted that agencies will often take advantage of large roads such as freeways to create a natural geographic buffer against its spread.<\/p>\n<p>Barger issued a local emergency proclamation shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday to enable L.A. County to expedite the deployment of resources to assist residents and combat the fire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur priority is to protect lives, homes, and critical infrastructure, and this proclamation will help ensure that we have the tools and support necessary to meet the urgent needs of our communities,\u201d she said in a statement. <\/p>\n<p>Lake Piru Recreation Area is closed until further notice, as is Piru Canyon Road, which connects the town of Piru to the lake.<\/p>\n<p>The Canyon fire is the fourth major blaze in the region in recent days, including the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fire.ca.gov\/incidents\/2025\/8\/1\/gifford-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Gifford fire<\/a> burning across the Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo county line. That fire, which ignited last week, is now California\u2019s largest this year at more than 98,000 acres. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rapidly growing wildfire straddling the Ventura-Los Angeles county line Thursday afternoon triggered evacuations in and around Piru&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":128213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[11001,1191,12884,78335,78164,718,3537,5370,78334,2444,50,1408,17820,78333,78336,67,132,68,33077],"class_list":["post-128212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","category-us","tag-acre","tag-behavior","tag-brush-fire","tag-brush-fire-force-evacuation","tag-castaic-junction","tag-community","tag-evacuation","tag-heat-wave","tag-l-a-county-line","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-news","tag-official","tag-p-m","tag-piru","tag-santa-clarita-valley","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-ventura-county"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114991415007066130","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}