Conejo Valley spared from rage of area brush fires

FIRE DOUSED--A lone firefighter puts the finishing touches on some hot embers on Sunday morning. Miriam de Lyon, who lives in the 3700 block of Calle Linda Vista in Newbury Park, had plenty of praise for the Ventura County Fire Department after this fire was quickly put out near her home. "Thanks to our great firefighters and our neighbors, we didn't become another Malibu," she said. Her husband, Terry de Lyon, took the photograph.

Fires burning in Thousand Oaks on Sunday added to the smoke covering the city from blazes in Malibu and the Santa Rosa Valley.

A two-story house in the 1100 block of Essex Way was totally consumed by a fire that began shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday. Eight engines responding found a fully involved fire upon arrival.

No injuries were reported in that fire or another one that took place in Newbury Park earlier Sunday, said retired Fire Capt. Tom Kruschke, a fire department spokesperson.

The Newbury Park brush fire took place in the early morning before sunrise near Reino and Old Conejo roads across the street from Peppertree Park, Kruschke said.

It took about two hours for firefighters to put out the brush fire, he said.

"The winds caused more trouble in putting out these fires because the fires burn more fiercely and spread more easily," Kruschke said.

Since some of the firefighting resources from Thousand Oaks are outside the city helping with other blazes in Southern California, additional resources from throughout the state are on their way here, Kruschke said.

"It's like a big chess board, and the pieces are moving to where they most need to be," he said.

Los Angeles fire officials have called the blazes "the perfect fire storm," which has stressed and strained firefighting resources.

"We are being run pretty ragged," Kruschke said.

Emergency callers will notice a longer response time, he said.

Ventura County is included in an emergency declaration signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Causes for the two fires in Thousand Oaks are still under investigation. For fire prevention tips, visit the Internet website www.fire.countyofventura.org.

- -Nancy Needham