Southern California Fires Live Updates: New Blaze Breaks Out in San Diego County

VENTURA, Calif. — The quick-moving fires that have forced thousands of Californians to evacuate their homes continued to sweep across the southern part of the state on Friday, destroying buildings and taxing fire crews that have been working for days.

Evacuees in San Diego County, where a 4,100-acre fire remained completely uncontained, told of quickly encroaching flames that left at least six people injured, 25 racehorses dead and 85 structures ruined.

“I got the ‘Get the hell out of here’ evacuation,” said Paul Anderson, who fled his home in Bonsall on Thursday. “About four cop cars rolling around the neighborhood. ‘Get out!’”

The fire Mr. Anderson fled was among seven burning Friday in Southern California, including a new flare-up near Alpine in Cleveland National Forest and a blaze in Ventura County that has burned 132,000 acres and destroyed more than 400 buildings. Officials said the Ventura fire was spreading Friday and threatening buildings in Carpinteria, Ojai, Santa Paula and Ventura.

“This fire just keeps on going on us,” said Capt. Israel Pinzon, a spokesman for the state firefighting agency.

Here’s the latest:

• President Trump on Friday declared an emergency in California and ordered additional federal aid. His declaration, which Gov. Jerry Brown had requested, allows federal agencies to coordinate the relief efforts.

• A fire near Murrieta, in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, has burned about 300 acres. Seven buildings were destroyed, officials said, and the fire was 60 percent contained.

• The threat was so severe that for the first time, state officials used the highest category in their color-coded fire hazard warning system. They painted much of Southern California purple on Thursday, for extreme danger, and many people received warnings to be ready to flee. Here’s what to do when you’re preparing to evacuate.

• Some residents who were forced to evacuate their homes because of the fires in the San Fernando Valley and in Bel-Air were told they could return on Thursday night.

• Eric M. Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, said late Thursday that he was not aware of any deaths connected to the Los Angeles fires.

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A new fire adds to worries in San Diego County.

Early estimates of the fire in the Cleveland National Forest ranged from eight to 15 acres. “We’re throwing a lot of equipment at this fire right now, both from the air and from the ground,” said Capt. Kendal Bortisser, a spokesman for the state firefighting agency.

Firefighting crews in San Diego County were also contending with the larger fire that broke out Thursday near Bonsall.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Dianne Jacob, the chairwoman of San Diego County’s board of supervisors. “We need to stay vigilant and be prepared.”

Ms. Jacob said mobile homes belonging to older people were among the buildings destroyed, and state officials said around 25 racehorses died on Thursday as flames engulfed the barns at a training center that houses about 500 horses.

The California Horse Racing Board said in a statement that workers “risked their lives in efforts to free the horses,” and that many of the animals had been ushered to safer land or taken to shelter at a nearby racetrack. Other horses remained unaccounted for on Friday.

The county sheriff estimated that 10,000 people had evacuated. Mary Gallagher, 81, a retired department administrator, evacuated not once but twice on Thursday — first to Fallbrook High School, a quick drive from her house, and then to a shelter in Escondido, about 30 miles south.

She said she got “maybe an hour or two” of sleep on Thursday night, blaming the uncomfortable cot and worries about her home.

“It was those winds,” she said, “the winds were awful.”

‘They are surrounded by fire’ in Ojai.

The largest fire in Southern California has spread northwest in Ventura County as the authorities extended a “red flag” warning through the weekend, a forecast of continued high winds that have made the fire difficult to control.

The fire, which on Friday morning blanketed Ventura in thick smoke, was 10 percent contained on Friday, up from 5 percent on Thursday.

Fires overnight devoured hillsides around Ojai, a small inland city dotted with villas and known for its music festival. Fire crews worked through the night in the steep, forested hills of the Ojai Valley amid gusty winds.

“They are surrounded by fire,” Capt. Pinzon said of Ojai.

In Bel-Air, a chance to return home.

By Thursday night, several local and state officials said they were encouraged by improving conditions in the city and county of Los Angeles. And as a result, officials announced that some Angelenos would be allowed to return home starting Thursday evening.

The focus in the Bel-Air hills had turned to digging out burning embers and cooling down any hot spots that could easily ignite. It was easy to see how quickly the neighborhood could go up in flames: Sprawling estates on narrow streets were surrounded by towering elms and bitterly dry pine needles. Blackened embers of tree trunks had tumbled down — one had hit a firefighter and burned him around the neck.

Many of the iron gates that guard the mansions had been broken open by firefighters who needed to get to the slopes burning below. Some driveways were covered with splatters of pink from the fire retardant that had been dumped from aircraft.

Capt. Brian Ferreira, a firefighter from Oakland, had helped mop up on a hillside near a winery owned by the media mogul Rupert Murdoch. While small patches of the hillside and the wine storage had suffered some damage, most of the winery seemed fine, he said.

“Rupert will be glad to hear that, he paid a lot of money for that property,” said Hugh Siegman, 71, who lives just above the winery.

Mr. Siegman and his wife returned to their undamaged home Thursday morning, before the evacuation had been lifted. “I would rather be here and be vigilant myself and get these guys to help if they need it,” he said.

Traffic reporters take on a new role in Los Angeles.

As flames have ravaged Los Angeles, traffic reporters have emerged as lifelines through the chaos, stars in an urban, multi-fire battle that could compete with a disaster film plotline from a Hollywood studio. Their profession, sidelined in the age of apps and built-in navigation, is boosted by the thing technology still does not have — human judgment.

Reporters have spent days navigating people home and keeping them out of harm’s way, with guidance beyond the turn-by-turn. Where a road might appear open on an electronic map, it might in reality be under a miasma of smoke too painful for breathing. A side street may seem passable, but just out of sight, a fire could be barreling down.

Read more about the guidance they’re providing here.