By Wednesday morning, the wind-driven blaze ignited Monday in Simi Valley had expanded to 1,698 acres, with firefighters achieving 15% containment, the Los Angeles Times reported. Known as the Sandy Fire, the blaze has left tens of thousands of Ventura and Los Angeles county residents under mandatory evacuation orders and claimed at least one home.
According to CBS News, police logs show a call came in around 10:17 a.m. Monday reporting that someone operating a tractor near the 2600 block of Rudolph Drive had struck a rock, setting off the fire. Santa Ana winds peaking at 40 mph pushed flames through dry grasses, though conditions eased as Tuesday progressed.
As of Tuesday, evacuation orders were still binding for upward of 17,000 residents, with an additional roughly 400 people subject to evacuation warnings, CBS News reported. Officials said evacuation orders covered as many as 28,000 people at the height of Monday's fire activity. Affected communities stretched from southern Simi Valley and Bell Canyon to communities straddling the Ventura-Los Angeles county line, among them Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Chatsworth, West Hills, and the Lake Manor neighborhood.
The Times reported that the firefighting effort has drawn 869 or more personnel, with agencies throughout Southern California contributing both ground and air support. Ventura County Fire Department Division Chief Nick Cleary told the Times that Wednesday's top priority would be holding the fire back from the Santa Susana Field Laboratory and the Box, Bell, and Woolsey canyon corridors. A further "dynamic day" was expected, Cleary said.
