‘Hotshots’ Fight Fire Menacing Piru

FILLMORE — A wildfire fueled by scorching heat and old, dry brush burned stubbornly toward Piru on Thursday, as the U.S. Forest Service deployed elite crews to clear breaks in the rugged terrain northeast of Fillmore.

In its third day, the blaze had blackened about 12,000 acres in a mountainous area stretching through Los Padres National Forest and within two miles of tiny Piru, home to 1,000.

After ordering 30 campers at Lake Piru Campground and a handful of nearby residents to leave the area Wednesday, Ventura County sheriff’s officials readied a plan to evacuate all of Piru if the eastbound fire turned south.

By Thursday afternoon, the fire had burned to within a half-mile of Lake Piru, darkening sunny skies with a pall of thick brown smoke.

A 15-degree drop in temperatures from the day before--albeit to a still-sizzling 95 degrees--plus the arrival of shovel-wielding firefighters and helicopter support gave weary cause for optimism Thursday.

“When you’ve been boiling at more than 100 for three days, a drop down to 95 is leading in the right direction,” said California Department of Forestry spokesman Bill Peters. “But it’s still a volatile situation.”

On Thursday evening, the fire’s heat fueled wind gusts that hastened the blaze’s pace.

Firefighters expected to continue digging a 20-mile containment line around the blaze for another couple of days, with the buffer only 10% complete by Thursday afternoon.

More than 1,800 firefighters from across the state, along with U.S. Forest Service teams from as far as Arizona, worked largely by hand.

Scores of idle red engines lined the streets near the command post in Fillmore’s Shiells Park, rendered useless by the steep mountains and lack of roads.

Flames shot as high as 100 feet in canyons outside Lake Piru, where much of the action was focused. There, the firefighters’ priority was to complete the portion of the containment line between Piru and Fillmore to protect both cities.

A special U.S. Forest Service crew, known as the “hotshots,” hacked through bone-dry chaparral that had not burned in more than 70 years. Crew members have intensive aerobic training that helped prepare them for fighting flames in tortuous heat.

Above them, 11 helicopters and air tankers cut through plumes of smoke, dropping as much as 3,000 gallons of water at a time on the fire.

The remote location and mountain peaks as high as 4,500 feet hampered radio communications between the 13 agencies battling the blaze.

In such conditions, firefighting efforts hinge on the success of crews battling the blaze by hand, said U.S. Forest Service Battalion Chief Bill Krushak.

“A working hotshot crew does become a machine,” said Krushak, who has belonged to one such outfit. “They go where you can’t get bulldozers and fire engines.”

Meanwhile, arson investigators were combing oil wells and brush a few miles northeast of Fillmore, where the fire began Tuesday afternoon. They had not nailed down a cause but were questioning oil workers to see if any suspicious people were seen traveling the bumpy dirt roads near the fire’s origin.

Despite the extreme conditions, officials said only one firefighter was injured Thursday. He was stung by a bee and taken to a local hospital for an allergic reaction.

Correspondent Rob Selna contributed to this report.

* LOS GATOS BLAZE: A fast-moving fire destroys at least six homes in Los Gatos. A15