LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. — 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6
Acres burned: 9,999
Containment: 100%
Location: South Mountain, Santa Paula, CA
Start date: Oct. 31, 2019 at approximately 6:14 p.m.
Cause: Under investigation
Evacuations: All evacuations were lifted as of Nov. 2 at 2 p.m.
Twitter Hashtags: #MariaFire
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7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6
The fire is now 100% contained and 9,999 acres have burned. Four structures were destroyed. The fire was active for five days. A total of 17 crews worked to contain the fire, including 45 engines and three water tenders.
7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5
The fire remains 95% contained and 9,999 acres have burned.
7 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5
The fire is now 95% contained and has burned 9,999 acres, according to Ventura County Fire Department.
7:00 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 4.
The fire is now 90% contained and has burned 9,999 acres.
5:49 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 4.
The fire remains 80% contained. Two structures are destroyed, but no confirmed injuries or fatalities have been reported.
7 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 4
The latest update from the Ventura County Fire Department increased the containment of the Maria Fire to 80% with acreage holding at just over 9,400.
They say firefighters are being helped by the cooler temperatures and lighter winds. Crews are checking buildings for damage.
The blaze has burned nearly 15 square miles (39 sq. kilometers) of dry brush and timber.
The fire began Oct. 31 during dry winds that fanned fires across the state.
7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3
The latest update from the Ventura County Fire Department increased the containment of the Maria Fire to 70% with acreage holding at just over 9,400.
The Ventura Unified School District says eight of its schools will be closed Monday because of ash and debris from the wildfire.
Superintendent Roger Rice says the schools that will be closed are Juanamaria Elementary, Portola Elementary, Citrus Glenn Elementary, Montalvo Arts Academy, ATLAS Academy of Technology and Leadership at Saticoy, Junipero Serra Elementary, Balboa Middle School, and Mound Magnet for Science and Global Citizenship. The schools are expected to reopen Tuesday.
All of the 16,800-student district's other schools will be open Monday.
Rice says: "Our teams inspected school sites this weekend. It was determined that eight of our schools had a significant amount of ash that needed to be cleaned up prior to students and staff returning."
10:10 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3
Authorities have lifted all evacuations as firefighters make progress against a wildfire that sent thousands fleeing homes northwest of Los Angeles.
Ventura County Fire Capt. Steve Kaufmann says crews on Sunday are battling hotspots and keeping an eye on lingering winds. But he says officials are "cautiously optimistic."
Firefighters working in steep conditions have contained 50% of the blaze, which has burned nearly 15 square miles of dry brush and timber.
The blaze began Oct. 31 during dry winds that fanned fires across the state.
8:45 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3
President Donald Trump is threatening to cut U.S. funding to California for aid during wildfires that have burned across the state during dry winds this fall.
Trump tweeted Sunday that California Gov. Gavin Newsom has done a "terrible job of forest management." He tweeted that when fires rage, the governor comes to the federal government for help. "No more," the president tweeted.
Newsom didn't immediately comment. However, the state controls just a small percentage of forest land. The federal government manages most of it.
Last year Trump made a similar threat as wildfires devastated Malibu and Paradise, California — accusing the state of "gross mismanagement" of forests.
At the time Newsom defended California's wildfire prevention efforts while criticizing the federal government for not doing enough to help protect the state.
12:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1
Latest information from the Ventura County incident page:
Shifting winds are causing problems for firefighters trying to contain a Southern California wildfire.
Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen says the Maria Fire about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles has grown to just under 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) as of midday Friday.
County Sheriff Bill Ayub says the fire is threatening 2,300 structures and about 8,000 people are under evacuation orders.
The fire erupted Thursday evening on a prominence called South Mountain and has burned down its flanks toward small communities.
Red Flag warnings for critical fire weather conditions had been expected to expire but forecasters are considering extending them until Saturday evening.
RELATED: Kincade Fire explodes to over 75,000 acres, as wildfire erupts near Getty Center in Los Angeles
7:20 a.m.
A wildfire northwest of Los Angeles has grown but authorities say heavy winds that fan fires have subsided and cold temperatures are reducing the fire's movement
The Ventura County Fire Department says Friday that the blaze that started on a hilltop Thursday evening near the city of Santa Paula spanned more than 12 square miles (31 square kilometers), up from 11 square miles (28 square kilometers) earlier. It has grown to 8,060 acres, according to Ventura County Fire Department.
Evacuation orders were issued to about 7,500 people in an area that includes about 1,800 buildings.
Dozens of schools were closed Friday because of the fire.
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12:20 a.m.
Calmer weather allowed crews to increase containment on wildfires after a three-week siege of gusts fanned blazes across California and led utilities to cut power to prevent winds from blowing branches into electric lines and igniting an inferno.
Winds subsided in virtually all parts of the state, though Red Flag warnings for fire danger because of winds and ultra-dry conditions remained in place through Friday evening for some inland areas to the north and west of Los Angeles.
Lingering winds were blamed for churning up a wildfire that erupted Thursday evening and quickly spread from a hilltop near Santa Paula, north of Los Angeles.
Authorities in Ventura County ordered evacuations for about 7,500 people in an area that includes roughly 1,800 buildings as the blaze threatened the small, unincorporated rural community of Somis.
Hundreds of firefighters raced to attack the blaze, which initially was fanned by moderate winds and then was fueled by tinder-dry brush in canyons. It grew in only a few hours to around 8,040 acres — just over 12.6 square miles (33 square kilometers) — by 1:30 a.m. Friday.
Ventura County Fire Assistant Chief John McNeil estimated that the fire could reach around 12,000 acres before running out of fuel. Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said a small drone that appeared to be "looking at photography of the fire" interfered with aerial firefighting efforts Thursday.
Meanwhile, dozens of local schools across several districts announced Friday closures because of what officials dubbed the Maria fire.
For most of October, fires sprang up across the state, forcing residents to flee homes at all hours as flames indiscriminately burned barns, sheds, mobile homes and multimillion-dollar mansions.
The good news was that dry, dangerous winds that swept both ends of the state this week had mostly subsided and forecasters predicted an upcoming week of placid conditions.
Nearly 200,000 Sonoma County residents were allowed to return home even as the 120-square-mile (311-square-kilometer) fire that forced them to evacuate continued to burn. At least 140 homes were destroyed.
Brenda Catelani choked up as she recalled driving back home to Windsor with her husband.
"I think when we left, and especially Sunday, we didn't think we'd be coming back," Catelani said.
Chunks of burnt embers, burned leaves and ash littered the outside of her house.
The fire had come within 500 yards (457 meters) of their house — closer than the wine country fires of 2017 that killed 44 people and destroyed 8,900 homes and other buildings in Sonoma and Napa counties.
"We feel extremely lucky," Catelani said.
Evacuations were also lifted for two small fires, fed by gusts up to 60 mph (96 kph), that destroyed homes early Thursday in the heavily populated inland region east of Los Angeles. One of those blazes, in Jurupa Valley, was caused by dry grasses ignited when a stolen car chased by police tried to escape through fields.
The wildfires came even as many were in the dark from the intentional outages.
In places where the power stayed on, utility lines and other electrical equipment were suspected or confirmed as the cause of several fires, including the one in Sonoma, another that started on a hillside above the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and one that burned around the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on Wednesday.
Pacific Gas & Electric finished restoring power to dozens of counties in the north and central regions after a third round of shutoffs this week designed to protect power lines from being damaged or toppled by high winds and sparking fires.
However, about 80,000 Southern California Edison users remained without power by late Thursday night.
The most devastating wildfires in California's history have occurred in the past two years in the fall, fueled by a combination of built-up brush, dry conditions and extreme winds. The anniversary of the deadliest of those — last year's fire that torched the town of Paradise and killed 85 — is next week.
The state experienced a wet winter with a large snowpack, and temperatures and wind speeds didn't spike simultaneously over the summer, which has led to a less destructive fire season overall.
Acreage burned this year is down nearly 90% from last year and 80% below the five-year average over the same period, according to figures compiled through Sunday by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The moisture, however, has fueled explosive growth of grasses that have now shriveled into golden and brown tinder.
