A firefighter keeps watch as the wildfire burns along a hillside in Point Mugu , Calif. Friday, May 3, 2013. Firefighters got a break as gusty winds turned into breezes, but temperatures remained high and humidity levels are expected to soar as cool air moved in from the ocean and the Santa Ana winds retreated. AP
CAMARILLO, California— A huge Southern California wildfire burned through coastal wilderness to the beach on Friday then stormed back through canyons toward inland neighborhoods when winds reversed direction.
The wind shift forced fire commanders to order a new evacuation of homes in a neighborhood along a stretch of road overlooking smoke-filled coastal canyons.
Fears arose after gusty Santa Ana winds from the northeast faded and ocean breezes from the southwest pushed inland.
The “worst-case weather scenario” sent flames ripping through fresh fuel just to the east of where the blaze charred wildlands a day earlier, said Ventura County fire spokesman Bill Nash.
“In the perfect scenario we’d just hope for the wind to go away but what happened is the wind just turned around,” Nash said.
The wind-whipped fire erupted Thursday in the Camarillo area, threatening as many as 4,000 homes but only damaging 15. No injuries were reported.
The blaze 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Los Angeles was only 10 percent contained, and the work of more than 900 firefighters, aided by air tankers, was just beginning.
Earlier, it jumped the Pacific Coast Highway and burned on a beach shooting range of Naval Base Ventura County.
The base ordered an evacuation of a nearby housing area as a precautionary measure and urged personnel in other housing to voluntarily leave.
The fire reinforced predictions that California is in for a bad summer fire season because dry winter and spring weather has left brush tinder-dry.
More than 3,000 firefighters were battling six major wildfires on Friday in California, the state fire agency said.