(CN) — Fierce winds began to subside in Southern California on Friday as firefighters battling a large wildfire in Ventura County began to make progress.
The Mountain Fire has grown to roughly 20,000 acres, or 32 square miles. As of midday Friday, it was 7% contained and had destroyed 132 structures — mostly homes. Ten people have been injured so far, included one firefighter. About 10,000 people remain under evacuation orders.
The fire erupted on Wednesday morning, triggered by exceedingly dry conditions and the fall Santa Ana winds — famously dry, warm and strong gusts that blow from the northeast toward the coast. The winds typically set off fires by knocking down trees and power lines, and then fuel their spread. Winds were so strong on Wednesday that aircraft were prevented from dropping water on the blaze. That had changed by Friday, when helicopters were seen dropping water.
“The fire is burning in steep, rugged terrain with dry and receptive fuels that continue to challenge containment efforts,” a spokesperson for the Ventura County Fire Department said in a written statement, posted to the social media site X. “Fire activity has decreased due to a decrease in winds over the area.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been providing assistance to the state’s effort in battling the blaze.
Weather officials expect winds to further die down over the weekend, when red flag warnings are set to expire. But the Santa Ana winds could return next week.
Firefighters have successful extinguished the Broad Fire, a smaller wildfire in Malibu that also broke out Wednesday which destroyed at least two homes, including one beachfront bungalow valued at $2.4 million, according to the Daily Mail.
So far this year, California has seen more 7,000 wildfires which have consumed more than a million acres, destroyed more than 1,400 structures and killed at least one person — a 66-year-old woman whose remains were found in a home that burned down in the Mina Fire in Northern California in July. That makes 2024 worse than the last two years, when only 300,000 acres burned each year, but milder than in 2021, when 2.6 million acres were consumed. The worst fire years on record came in 2020, when fires consumed nearly 4.4 million acres, killed 33 people and caused $12 billion in economic damage.
Friday also marked the sixth anniversary of the start of the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history. That fire — sparked by high winds and faulty PG&E electrical equipment — destroyed more than 18,000 structures and killed 85 people.