Crews fight 2nd fire in 2 days near Ventura Harbor

Staff reports | Ventura

Show Caption Hide Caption See crews battle blaze near Ventura Harbor A brush fire was reported on June 29, 2018, in what was described as a homeless encampment near Ventura Harbor.

For the second day in a row, crews on Saturday battled a vegetation blaze near Ventura Harbor even as they fought a separate fire off Highway 101 north of Ventura.

Agencies mounted a massive response to a grass fire reported at 2:34 p.m. at Highway 101 and the State Beaches exit just north of Ventura. Bulldozers, ground crews and helicopter support were initially called out to help fight the blaze. There was sparse to light to heavy grass and the fire was spreading at a moderate speed, crews on the scene reported.

By 3 p.m., the fire seemed to be under control at less than 2 acres and many of the firefighting units were released or canceled.

At least two lanes of northbound Highway 101 were closed during the blaze.

On the heels of that blaze, crews were called to fight a structure fire in the 300 block of Donlin Road in Newbury Park. The two-alarm fire was reported at 3:41 and appeared to be a garage fire in a home and had been knocked down by 4 p.m.

Near Ventura Harbor, crews were called at 1:20 p.m. to fight a blaze in the 1600 block of Spinnaker Drive in an area of the the Santa Clara River bottom adjacent to a site that had burned the day before. Early on, the fire was reported a quarter-acre in size. Crews were on the scene for several hours, and included personnel from the city of Ventura, Oxnard and Ventura County fire departments.

The cause of the fire was unknown. The Ventura Fire Department said personnel had been patrolling the site of the fire the day before with no problems until Saturday’s fire erupted.

Friday’s fire at the location was reported just after 12:50 p.m. near Harbor Boulevard at Olivas Park Drive, approximately 100 yards from the shoreline in the Santa Clara River bottom, officials said. It burned brush around several homeless encampments, officials said.

Authorities said the blaze mapped out at 7 acres and burned in arundo donax — an invasive reed that grows in the river bottom — but crews were able to get control of the flames by 3:40 p.m. when forward progress was stopped.

The suspected cause of the blaze was an escaped flame from a cooking fire in one of the homeless encampments, authorities said.

Portions of Harbor Boulevard were closed at Spinnaker Drive while crews fought the blaze, but the street later reopened. River Haven, a transitional housing site on Olivas Park Drive, was evacuated as firefighters worked to put out the blaze.

Crews with the city of Ventura Fire Department were assisted by county and Oxnard firefighters, the Ventura Harbor Patrol, Ventura police and the California Highway Patrol.

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