Mountain Fire Destroyed Neighborhood, But Not Residents' Determination

Camarillo Heights residents were well aware of the dangers of the fire.

Their corner of Ventura County was battered by powerful Santa Ana winds each fall, and those gusts fueled fires that approached but never devastated their hillside community.

That was until Wednesday, when the Mountain Fire hit hard, burning numerous homes and sending residents fleeing for safety.

Once the danger was over, people returned to contemplate the devastation. But instead of defeat, there was a spirit of resilience and defiance as neighbors helped neighbors and many talked about rebuilding as quickly as possible.

On Friday afternoon, 85-year-old Carol Cressy visited what was left of her home. Neighbors stopped to check on him as he walked through the rubble and twisted metal that made up his home for 50 years.

Phillip Federis searches for souvenirs in the ruins of a house owned by Carol Cressy, a family friend in Camarillo Heights.

(Al Seib / For The Times)

“The Bible says not to put your faith in material possessions,” Cressy said. “I don't believe it.”

Cressy volunteered with the local Democratic Party to register voters and stayed up late Tuesday night to watch the election results. On Wednesday morning, as the Mountain Fire moved toward her neighborhood, she received an automated phone call to evacuate.

“At that time, the color outside my windows was bright red,” he said. “The flames were already there.”

She jumped out of bed in her nightgown, chased her 10-year-old border collie, Henry Valentine, and ran to her car in a pair of sandals. He didn't have time to grab much more.

As a former educator who traveled abroad for 25 years, Cressy amassed a collection of goods, furniture and memorabilia from Germany, Japan and other parts of the world.

A hillside property reduced to rubble, framed by charred trees

“I ran out of all the good things. A firefighter told me that in a few days I will realize what happened,” Cressy said.

His friends donated clothes and other necessities to help him recover. She was able to refill her prescriptions at her pharmacy and someone offered her a new wardrobe and other items. She is staying with a friend, but stopped by her house on Friday when a friend's grandson was searching through the ashes for any of her keepsakes that might have survived the fire.

As Cressy drove down the street, Daryl Gross stopped to talk to his neighbor whom he didn't entirely know by first name.

“I'm Cressy,” he said. “My whole house has turned into smoke and ashes.”

A fire officer walking among the ruins of a house, a brick chimney in the distance

“Oh, I hope they find something for you,” said Gross, whose home was damaged.

The quality of drinking water in Camarillo was not affected; but Gross's water company, Pleasant Valley Mutual Water Company, notified customers that there is possible contamination related to the fire and that the water is not safe to drink.

Gross was planning to meet with a contractor to make repairs to the home and had little to no water pressure on Friday.

“There are so many things I think about, but then I look at my neighbors,” he said. “I can't think that way. I have a house. I am very lucky. Once again I have to remind myself that I have a home.”

Even after all the destruction, Cressy smiled happily and joked with her neighbors who passed by. She offered to put another neighbor in touch with the person who donated the clothes and added that she had to pick up her dog at the groomer.

The neighbor smiled: “You are amazing. “Just amazing.”

Cressy walked around her lot, not knowing if she wanted to rebuild somewhere else or move to a senior community once she received the insurance money. His hearing aids burned in the fire, but he wondered if maybe they survived.

“That's where my shower used to be,” she told Phillip Federis, 36, her friend's grandson, who took the day off work to examine the ashes. He found a handful of coins he received while teaching in Japan.

A man wearing a mask gives cups of coffee to a smiling woman in her car.

A crew of Ventura County firefighters stopped to check on Cressy and offered to help search through the rubble with their tools.

“Oh, that's the sweetest thing,” he said. “People are really coming together and have been very kind. “This fire is something else, because I am going to meet all my neighbors.”

City officials were not surprised by the spirit on display Friday.

“We have a very strong and resilient community here,” said Camarillo Mayor Tony Trembley. “We will get through this and support each other.”

Trembley expressed gratitude to the state and local emergency agencies that stepped in to help, along with fire agencies from outside Ventura County that made the trip to Camarillo. He also mourned the death of the neighbors who lost everything.

“Our hearts are broken for our neighbors and residents who lost their homes and are affected by the fire,” he said.

City officials are working to host a town hall in the coming days to determine next steps to repopulate evacuated neighborhoods.

A metal gate outside a destroyed property, two brick chimneys in the distance

Residents should have a bag to carry in case of an emergency and not just a wildfire, Trembley said. Homeowners should also consider a defensive perimeter around their properties to prevent fire from easily spreading to the home.

“Sadly, this is a reminder that we must all be prepared,” he added.

Firefighters said Camarillo Heights was very unlucky. Forecasts show their area would receive the strongest winds, and when a fire started in a nearby rural area, it headed straight for the community. Intense bursts of ground air support and officials focused on evacuating residents. No deaths and few injuries were reported.

One fire expert told the Times there was a cruel randomness in what houses burned. Kyle Ferris, a fire behavior analyst with the Mountain Fire Incident Command Team, said embers traveled up to a mile ahead of the fire, entering certain homes and flying past others.

In the end, more than 130 homes were destroyed and more than 80 were damaged, according to authorities.

On Friday morning, a pair of sheriff's deputies scrambled up a hillside in Camarillo Heights after residents noticed smoke rising from dense brush. They used a water hose from a nearby house to spray the weeds.

The hillside around Robert Dickran's home in Camarillo Heights was dotted with burned cacti and charred brush, showing how close the fire came to his home.

On Wednesday, at first, the fire seemed distant. He felt like he had plenty of time to prepare, but then his son came and told him to leave. That's when 60 mph winds hit the hillside neighborhood and the fire appeared on a nearby ridge.

Dickran, 77, took the essentials from his house: his wife's computer, some important documents, and placed them in his truck. Then he remembered his family photo albums.

Running back to his truck with the box, he was met with a wall of smoke and found he couldn't breathe. The firefighters had arrived; but with no fire hydrants around their property, they were left with their garden hose. They told him a plane dropped water or fire retardant on the hillside.

He left his house and was told that the neighborhood had been devastated. He didn't know how to process the information, but when he returned, he found his house standing.

“Does prayer stop things?” asked. He doesn't know why the wind would send the fire to one house and not another. It doesn't have a good answer.

A tattered American flag flutters in the wind

“Well, I feel guilty that my house survived and other people's houses didn't,” he said.

He plans to trim the vegetation around his house and install a new water line that can bring more water to his property. He doesn't want to be caught off guard again.

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