A fast-moving wildfire engulfs homes in Ventura County
A fast-moving, wind-fueled wildfire swept into the city of Ventura early Tuesday, burning 45,500 acres, destroying homes and forcing 27,000 people to evacuate.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Ventura County on Tuesday morning.
"This fire is very dangerous and spreading rapidly, but we'll continue to attack it with all we've got," Brown said. "It's critical residents stay ready and evacuate immediately if told to do so."
The state is sending resources to help with firefighting efforts. Ventura County officials have asked the state for eight fixed-wing firefighting aircraft to help douse the flames, said Ventura County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Donoghue.
At least 150 structures — including at least one large apartment complex and the Vista Del Mar Hospital, a psychiatric facility — were consumed by flames, and many more were threatened.
Embers are blown down a street by the fast-moving fire in Ventura County.
A family packs their belongings before evacuating from a neighborhood in Ventura.
A man waters the front of a building in Ventura and takes a picture of approaching flames.
John Bain and Brandon Baker take cover from the embers as they try to help stop a fire from burning a home in Ventura.
Firefighters hose burning apartments on Kalorama Street in Ventura.
A chimney is all that stands after a fast-moving fire burned down a home in Ventura.
Olivia Jacobson, 16, wipes her tears as she looks at her family's destroyed home on Island View Drive in Ventura.
Georgia Crowley, 14, from left, Grace Combs, 15, Muriel Rowley, 15, Olivia Jacobson, 16, Emma Jacobson, 19, Anna Niebergall, 20, and Sally Niebergall, 16 comfort each other as the Jacobson sisters watch their Ventura home engulfed in flames.
A home continues to burn in Ventura.
Homes burned to the ground by a fast-moving fire in Ventura County.
Smoke fills the sky from the Thomas fire.
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