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Fire burns 7 acres in Ventura River bed
Location is near homeless camps
Photo by Rob Varela
A Ventura County Sheriff's Department helicopter makes a water drop on a fire in the Ventura River bed.
STORY TOOLS 
More from County NewsA brush fire that broke out in the Ventura River bed Saturday afternoon started in an area of homeless encampments, according to fire officials.
The Ventura City Fire Department received its first report of the blaze about 12:45 p.m., Ventura Fire Marshal Brian Clark said. About seven acres burned before the fire was contained about 3:30 p.m.
It took 10 engines, two helicopters and 110 crew members to contain the fire, located a quarter mile north of Main Street, according to city fire officials.
Crews came from the city, the Ventura County Fire Department and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
About 80 firefighters remained on the scene until 7 p.m.
The fire appears to have started in the area of an illegal campfire, fire officials said. Scores of homeless people, perhaps as many as 150, live in the river bottom upstream from the fire area, according to city officials.
At one point, the fire spread to the center median of Highway 33, near its interchange with Highway 101.
Both directions of Highway 33 were closed intermittently throughout the afternoon, and traffic frequently backed up onto Highway 101.
Posted by tucents on October 12, 2008 at 5:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe they shouldn't have delayed the eviction of the homeless after all
Posted by janusjuris on October 12, 2008 at 7:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
my two cents is that it is some homeless persons' pay-back because they heard about the crack-down...
Posted by katndog on October 12, 2008 at 8:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It was a windy day and an accident occurred. Why would they burn down their only source of shelter and protection from you? Only people who live in South Central do that.
I have empathy for the homeless. With our economic crisis many more from our community may end up on the streets.
I just hope if its me that I'll find a good group that likes to cuddle to keep warm because I can't handle being cold.
Posted by sparks240 on October 12, 2008 at 11:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You can cuddle next to the warm glow of the crack pipe.
Posted by kind1 on October 12, 2008 at 4:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
These pics were taken within minutes of it starting, when it was just 1 acre. http://ventura.craigslist.org/com/876...
Posted by iam_caine on October 13, 2008 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How convenient! Now the homeless have relocated themselves, which will save the county a lot of time, trouble, and money trying to round them up and evict them.
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