Copyright CBS News
Ventura County fire officials announced the cause of last year's massive Mountain Fire, which scorched more than 20,000 acres and destroyed 180 homes, saying it ignited from leftover debris from a previous, much smaller fire one week earlier. Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said at a Friday morning news conference that arson investigators determined the Mountain Fire's most likely cause "was the extreme winds dislodging a pocket of covered hot tire debris from an earlier fire in the Balcom, Bixby area." The earlier fire was the Oct. 30, 2024, Balcom Fire, which started when a tractor's engine caught fire while clearing brush in a Balcom Canyon field. The vegetation fire reached 1.8 acres, with arson investigators closing it the following day. "We looked at the weather, we looked at the fuel conditions, we looked at the fire conditions, we looked at the suppression efforts that we took with hand line, hose line, dozer line, retardant line and an IR (Incident Response) flight around the perimeter, and we closed the fire," Gardner said, adding that there were clouds overhead and rain in the forecast that day. Weather conditions drastically changed over the next several days, and the eastern area of Ventura County was placed under a severe, relatively rare weather advisory known as a Particularly Dangerous Situation Red Flag Warning. The Mountain Fire sparked the morning of Nov. 6, 2024, fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds and extremely low humidity. It started on South Mountain in the Moorpark area and had spread to 1,000 acres within the first hour, causing thousands of people to evacuate. It exploded to nearly 20,000 acres within two days. Gardner said while the Mountain Fire was absolutely tragic, he credited the "unified and extraordinary" response of firefighters and law enforcement for preventing what could have been a worse outcome. "The loss was tragic to our communities and many of our own members – we didn't lose any lives, and I am so thankful for that." At the time of the wildfire, resident Ken Levin said in all the years that he's lived in the area, he's "never experienced wind like this." Wind gusts reached up to 65 mph in the particularly hard-hit Camarillo area. "So we will learn from this, because we are a high-performing agency that is always looking for ways to better," Gardner said at the news conference as he detailed new department procedures as a result. He said the department will adopt a new post-fire recognizance program utilizing drones and technology, explore improved mop-up policies, and undergo a Balcom Fire investigation by an outside, independent agency. "We're going to work with our partners in California, and we're going to create a best practice utilizing technology and utilizing all the tools available to make sure we are mopping up properly," Gardner said. Residents whose homes burned down are still working to rebuild. Ventura County received 51 building permits in the past year, 24 of which have been issued. "It was a heartbreaking and emotional scar that will last longer for all of us than it takes to rebuild anything," Gardner said.
