Blaze Injures 5, Burns 400 Acres

A brush fire fueled by dry grass burned more than 400 acres near Piru on Monday, injuring five firefighters and touching off a separate blaze around an underground oil pipeline.

The fire started near the Ventura county line around 2 p.m. when crews clearing grass along California 126 with a weed cutter hit a rock, sparking the blaze, officials said.

The fire, which briefly shut down the highway, spread quickly through the dry brush, and within hours had burned hundreds of acres.

“There is a lot of light grasses, and the temperatures have been real hot,” said Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Fred Ponce. “The conditions were just right to fuel the fire.”

The injured firefighters suffered heat exhaustion and were flown to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia.

No homes were damaged, but the flames touched off a second fire in the opening to an underground oil pipeline and storage vault, sending flames 10 feet into the air over a scorched field.

More than 150 firefighters from the Ventura County and Los Angeles County fire departments, as well as the California Department of Forestry and U.S. Forest Service battled the blaze.

Six water-dropping helicopters and three air tankers with fire retardant also were used, officials said.

Officials said the fire was 40% contained late Monday.

The California Highway Patrol closed California 126 in both directions for two hours during the afternoon, as heavy smoke blanketed the highway, officials said.