POINT MUGU : Controlled Burn Clears 500 Acres

Smoke was visible across parts of Ventura County Wednesday as about 100 firefighters supervised a prescribed burn of 500 acres on Broome Ranch near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Las Posas Road.

The blaze, the second controlled burn this year, was intended to clear vegetation from the site and reduce some of the fire hazard in the Santa Monica Mountains, said Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman Vicki Crabtree.

The fire was set at 7:30 a.m. and had burned itself out by about 1 p.m., Crabtree said.

The county Fire Department sent three engines, two helicopters and two hand crews to the burn, and was aided by a water tender from Camarillo State Hospital and three hand crews from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Crabtree said.

Wednesday was the 22nd day this year that air quality and weather conditions were favorable enough to allow agricultural burns in the county, said Kent Field, meteorologist with the county Air Pollution Control District.

Such burns are permitted only when air pollution is at a minimum and the weather ensures that fires can be controlled, Field said.

Later Wednesday afternoon, 40 county firefighters were called to a small brush fire near the intersection of Lewis Road and Camarillo Drive, near Camarillo State Hospital.

The firefighters arrived at 1:28 p.m. and had the blaze contained to an acre at 1:58 p.m., said department spokeswoman Chris Peterson. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Peterson said.