Crews left site despite hot spot

As in Palisades, an earlier fire sparked a larger one in Ventura County last year.

- BY RICHARD WINTON

THE REMAINS of a tractor that caught fire in Somis and is said to have ignited the Mountain fire are shown.

(AIMIN ALTON Ventura County Fire Department)

A fire that burned nearly 250 homes and structures in Ventura County was a rekindling of an earlier blaze that firefighters failed to fully extinguish, according to an investigation by Ventura County fire officials and prosecutors released Friday.

The findings, announced at a news conference, put more focus on the tactics firefighters use in declaring blazes out, especially after authorities concluded that the destructive Palisades fire was a restart of a Jan. 1 fire that the Los Angeles Fire Department wrongly declared fully extinguished.

The failure in Los Angeles to put out the Jan. 1 fire has led to outrage and a federal investigation.

In the case of the Ventura County fire, fire officials said they knew there were hot spots from a tractor that ignited the blaze, but did not think they would cause any problems.

During the news conference, Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner revealed the Mountain fire came back to life, most likely because hot rubber from a burned tractor tire was picked up by extreme winds and carried into dry tinder, where the fire started anew.

About a week before the Mountain fire started on Nov. 6, 2024, a tractor caught fire in Somis while clearing brush, officials said. Firefighters responded, along with a C-130 air tanker, and together they held the fire known as the Balcom fire to 1.8 acres and declared it out after three hours at 6 p.m.

Gardner said more than 100 firefighters used hoses to put a “wet line” around the fire perimeter, while bulldozers cut away vegetation in its path and aircraft caked the ground with retardant. Then, firefighters with hand tools and infrared technology checked the area for heat.