Fourteen hikers were rescued after a string of brush fires broke out Wednesday night in Los Padres National Forest near the Punch Bowls hiking area north of Santa Paula, officials said.

The hikers called dispatchers shortly after the blazes broke out at 7 p.m., saying they could see the flames. The hikers asked which way they should go to safely leave the area of the fire behind Thomas Aquinas College in the 10000 block of Santa Paula Ojai Road, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.

Firefighters with the U.S. Forest Service were assisted by the county agency as well as the city of Ventura and city of Santa Paula fire departments, which sent about 70 firefighters to fight the flames, said Capt. Stan Ziegler, a county fire spokesman. By 11:30 p.m., the fires had burned about 9 to 10 acres and crews were working through the night to build a containment line, officials said. Four additional spot fires broke out early Thursday as the effort continued, authorities said.

No structures were threatened.

The initial priority was getting the hikers to safety, a goal that had been achieved by 9:15 p.m., Ziegler said. A helicopter helped hoist some of them out of the area, while others were assisted by firefighters on the ground, Ziegler said.

Four helicopters initially responded to the incident after the first crews on the scene said they were unable to access the flames that were about a mile and a half from the Punch Bowls.

One of the helicopter crews that arrived in the area at 7:37 p.m. reported two fires. Soon after that, crews reported they found a third fire. By 9 p.m., several starting points to the fires had been located, but Ziegler said the exact number was under investigation.

Firefighting efforts were expected to continue into the night.