Calif. inferno rages toward ‘Shangri-La’
OJAI, Calif. — The biggest and most destructive of the windblown fires raking Southern California shut down one of the region’s busiest freeways yesterday and threatened Ojai, a scenic mountain town dubbed “ShangriLa” and known for its boutique hotels and New Age spiritual retreats.
Most of Ojai’s 7,000 residents were warned to clear out late Wednesday and patients unable to walk were moved from the Ojai Valley Community Hospital because of unprecedented, hurricane-force Santa Ana winds in the overnight forecast.
The winds turned out to be less fierce than expected, but firefighters still had to contend with gusts that fanned the fire to 150 square miles and put thousands of homes in jeopardy.
The Ventura County blaze and three other major fires burning in the Los Angeles area have put tens of thousands of people under evacuation orders and destroyed nearly 200 homes and buildings, a figure almost certain to rise.
A woman was found dead in a wrecked car in an evacuation zone near the city of Santa Paula, where the Ventura County blaze began Monday night, but officials could not immediately say whether the accident was fire-related.
In Ojai, the normally bustling town was practically vacant as smoke hung along the surrounding hillsides. Ojai’s downtown burned 100 years ago, and it has been skirted by two of the biggest fires in California history, in 1932 and 1985.