Springs Fire burns 28,000 acres by Carter Brown

'Aided by cooling temperatures, the massive Springs fire in Ventura County has slowed considerably overnight and is now 60% contained, Cal Fire reported Sunday. The fire has burned 28,000 acres. Because of minimal fire activity, Cal Fire said in a statement, "there is an increase in demobilization of firefighting resources." Though the blaze has damaged 15 homes and five commercial buildings, no residences have been destroyed and no injuries have been reported, officials said. Compared with Thursday and Friday — when fire raced through Ventura County hillsides, causing officials to call for the evacuation of about 5,000 residents — Saturday was relatively calm for firefighters and residents in the most heavily threatened areas, neighborhoods full of multimillion-dollar ranch homes near Thousand Oaks and Camarillo. By late afternoon, as the air continued to cool, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Fernando Herrera said officials expected to have full containment by Monday. "This is good," said Herrera, looking up at fog rolling inland on ocean breezes. "This is what we want." Earlier in the day, fearing a replay of a 1993 inferno that crept from hillsides and destroyed 53 homes, crews focused their efforts on keeping the blaze from reaching neighborhoods on the rural western edges of Thousand Oaks. From a vantage point near Potrero Road and Wendy Drive, light wisps of smoke could be seen rising from a distance into the sky, but nothing more. As firefighters monitored the smoke, residents calmly snapped photographs.' Although this isn't local and hasn't necessarily affected anyone I know, it is always unfortunate when a fire breaks out and burns tons and tons of land. A fire broke out similar to this and burned land down by Possom Kingdom Lake for days. I am glad to know the fire is being contained.