Results tagged “venturacounty”

A volunteer opportunity for those who can handle the adrenaline: "Ventura County Search and Rescue East Valley Team 3 (VCSAR 3) is comprised of highly dedicated and skilled volunteers who are able to respond to wilderness emergencies in Ventura County. VCSAR 3 team members are extensively trained in search techniques, technical rope rescue, tracking, swiftwater rescue, communications, winter operations, urban search and rescue, and search management."

An 8.0 earthquake in American Samoa this morning prompted a tsunami watch in Hawaii and a tsunami advisory for coastal areas of Southern California, including Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. [Update: Beaches in LA County will close at 8 p.m., more info here]

The Guiberson Fire, which began on the morning of September 22 and burned primarily in Moorpark and Fillmore, reached 100% containment yesterday, as the last of the assigned fire crews worked to completely surround and put out the flames, reports abc7.com.

Just one hour and one half into the Guiberson Fire on Tuesday, NASA's Terra satellite captured smoke billowing over the Santa Susana Mountains and into the Oxnard Plain toward the Pacific Ocean. Further west is Santa Cruz Island, the biggest Channel Island at the size of 96 square miles. The smoke cloud appears to be the same size.

This morning the Guiberson Fire, which began late morning yesterday in Fillmore, north of Moorpark over the Santa Susana Mountains, has scorched 9,600 acres and is 10% contained, according to a live broadcast on KTLA. The fire is described as having two branches, the first of which is in the direction of Moorpark College, and the second burning in Happy Camp Canyon.

The Guiberson Fire began around 10:30 a.m. this morning in Fillmore, north of Moorpark over the Santa Susana Mountains. Fueled by red flag weather and Santa Ana winds, the blaze quickly consumed at least 6,000 acres, prompting a number of evacuations and around 400 firefighters to respond, two of which that have suffered injuries. So far, it is zero percent contained.

The investigation into the cause of the Guiberson Fire, now 6,000 acres in size, already has a preliminary suspect: spontaneously combusted manure. Ventura County Sheriff's Department authorities did not say if the manure was animal or plant based, but one Moorpark Councilman told Fox 11 News he was not surprised. "We have a large agricultural presence in Ventura County," he said.

The Guiberson Fire is moving quickly towards more homes, prompting more evacuations and road closures in Ventura County. The newest evacuation is for the Meridian Hills area. "Affected dwellings include neighborhoods south of Broadway Road west from Walnut Canyon Road to Balcom Cyn Road," according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. "Residents in the affected areas can expect a Reverse 911 telephone call alerting them to the evacuation orders."

Evacuation enters have already been established as the fast-moving Guiberson Fire burns through brush in eastern Ventura County between Moorpark and Fillmore. "Affected person can go to the Goebal Senior Center at 1385 Janss Road in Thousand Oaks for shelter," according to a Ventura County Sheriff's Department advisory.

As a quick-moving wildfire burns in the Santa Clara River Valley, no official evacuation order has been given to Moorpark residents as of 12:23 p.m. However, Fred Ponce of Ventura County Fire told KTLA newscasters that those living along the 118 freeway in Moorpark, they should be prepared for the possibility of leaving. "If you're in doubt, get out," he said. "Don't wait for an actual evacuation order." Ranches in the Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park are already under evacuation orders, according to news reports.

The 25-year-old woman who was behind the wheel of a U-Haul truck during a televised 90-mile police chase on January 28th has been sentenced to six months in jail, abc7.com is reporting. Further, "Alisha Nichole Mankin's driver's license was suspended for one year, and she was placed on probation for 36 months."

Firefighters were called out at 12:15 p.m. this afternoon to the Los Angeles/Ventura County line where a small 4-5 brush fire was burning. At 12:55, LA County fire officials told LAist they had a good handle on the fire and it seemed to be under control. The small blaze is began on 2800 block of Yellow Hill Road in Malibu and has spread in the hills west of Mulholland Highway near Pacific Coast Highway, according to CBS2.

UPDATE, 1:02 P.M.: The fire has grown, but is 50% contained. Updated information can be found here.

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At 7:53 a.m., Ventura County Fire dispatchers received calls of a wildfire in Point Mugu State Park's La Jolla Canyon north of Malibu. As of 8:55 a.m., it burned 10 acres of brush on the westside of the canyon, according to Capt. John Alford of the Ventura County Fire Department. Dominate northeast winds are blowing the fire towards the top of a sheer cliff where the Pacific Coast Highway lays below and the ocean 50 ft away.

The Sesnon Fire that began in Porter Ranch yesterday morning has spread to Simi Valley totalling 13,285 acres and prompting mandatory evacuations. Mandatory evacuations are in effect for Tapo Canyon north of Lost Canyon, Box Canyon, Lake Manor, Lilac Lane, Santa Susanna Pass Road from the Ventura County line to Box Canyon Road, and Woolsey Canyon, according to the Ventura County Fire Department as of 5:04 p.m. Voluntary evacuations are in Bell Canyon.

The National Weather Service released an alert this afternoon announcing that the Santa Anas have weakened and wind advisories throughout most of the region ended at 3:00 p.m. However, the advisory for the mountain areas of Ventura County and LA County (excluding the Santa Monica Mt. Range) are still in effect until 8:00 p.m. tonight. The good news out of this is that air quality could improve with wind subsiding on the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valley floors. Still, weather can change in an instant and fire departments are taking no chances. UPDATE: Another e-mail from the NWS says that Red Flag Warnings will still remain in effect until 10:00 p.m. Wednesday.

No suspects have been arrested in the Monday night slaying of Pamela Fayed in a Century City parking garage. Police only say they have "several leads" for a suspect only described as a "slender man in his 20s wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans, fled in a red sport utility vehicle," according to the Daily News. Fayed, along with her estranged husband ran an internet gold trading website from Ventura County.

$3.55 for unleaded. Check, albeit annoying.

The city of Ventura has been taken off the map. Specifically, the Greyhound Bus Line service map. This week the company shut down the station in Ventura, and wiped it off their route, to the surprise of many who had been hoping to hop a bus out of town. So is busing it a relic of a bygone era?

I recently finished reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food", and I couldn't wait to get out to the Studio City farmer's market this morning. I stuck a couple of twenty-dollar bills in my back pocket and threw a "Ventura County Fair!!!" tote bag over my arm.

Fallout from the massive Westland/Hallmark meat recall scandal continues to affect Southland restaurants, stretching from San Diego to Ventura County. The California Department of Public Health has released a document listing every food purveyor which has purchased the recalled beef -- and at 59+ pages, it's a doozy. Chances are very good you have purchased or ingested some of Westland/Hallmark's product at some point, since markets and restaurants across the city are represented.

State Senator Sheila Kuehl is at it again, but this time it's not about speed cameras in Beverly Hills, it's about writers and other artists getting their fair share of residuals. In a press release from the Writers Guild of America, they explain the problem of underselling television series and movies and what SB1765, the "Fair Market Value Bill," aims to do:

Since the major media networks in the United States have come to own many cable channels, the practice of selling TV series or movies for less than the fair market value of the content has become more and more prevalent. In many cases, the product is sold or licensed from one entity to another entity within the same parent company. This creates a problem for actors, writers, and performers who rely on the amount of a sale of material for their residuals – payments made to the creators or performers of a work for showings or screenings after an initial use.

Kuehl, who represents parts of Los Angeles and Ventura County is a SAG member herself. "Many of my constituents work within the entertainment industry, and I have recently heard more and more about the growing practice of selling entertainment content, such as television series or films, for less than their fair market value. This practice has a deeply detrimental effect on the amount of compensation for creative talent like writers and actors. But the damage goes further because so-called below-the-line staff, like the Teamsters, rely on the proceeds from such a sale of content to fund their health and pension plans. This bill simply ensures that workers in the entertainment industry have the protection they need."

A few weeks ago, we reported on Senate Bill 1142, which would widen the use of enforcement cameras in California from intersections to roadways where photos and video could capture speeding cars on streets, ultimately sending the violator a ticket in the mail. Senator Dutton's office said it was a spot bill and later released a statement to highwayrobbery.net, an enforcement camera advocacy site:

UPDATE, 4:12 P.M., FRI., FEB. 15: KNBC reports that the Oxnard boy has been taken off life support and "his organs have been given away."

Roger Avary, the Academy Award-winning writer of the 1994 cult classic Pulp Fiction, was arrested this weekend on charges of manslaughter.

The Oxnard youth was fishing from the rock when he may have been pulled into the ocean by a rogue wave. The young man's family witnessed him go under the water, and he has not been seen since, according to the Ventura County Fire Department Web site.The high surf forced authorities to call off the search last night.

If good things come in threes, it seems bad things come in twos, at least today in LA:

The Geminid Meteor showers are set to peak this week, especially on Thursday and Friday. Um, great date night, anybody? Astronomers studying the phenomenon, David Levy and Stephen Edberg, are terribly enthused: "If you have not seen a mighty Geminid fireball arcing gracefully across an expanse of sky, then you have not seen a meteor.' Those guys are serious!!! "The Geminid Meteors are usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing...

I’ve been hearing about Civil War reenactments for a while now, but until this year I had no idea there was one a few miles from LA County. According to the official event website, this particular reenactment (hosted by the Richmond Howitzer Battalion) is the largest in Southern California. The participants, many of whom are veterans, pay the expenses themselves and the attention to detail is amazing.