Sandy Fire extends to 1,300 acres; 0% contained | FOX 11 LA

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:01]Breaking news now at 8. A wildfire forces thousands to evacuate in the Seami Valley area. 1300 plus acres destroyed so far. We are live from the ground. And Sky Fox live above the Sandy Fire right now and you can see some of those active flames remain. Some of that smoke is still out there. Good evening everyone. You're watching LA Live News Tonight. I'm Mara Tees.

[00:00:26]>> Thanks for joining us. I'm Laura Diaz in for Christine Divine. We begin with breaking news. The Sandy Fire in Seami Valley has now scorched 1,364 acres and remains at 0% containment.

[00:00:39]Tonight, at least one home has been destroyed on Trickling Brook. Mandatory evacuation orders and warnings remain in effect for thousands of residents. A temporary evacuation point is open at the Rancho Santa Susanna Community Park located at 505 East Los Angeles Avenue.

[00:00:57]Small pets can be taken to the Semi Valley Animal Shelter while livestock is being routed to the Ventura County Fairgrounds. We are tracking the Sandy Fire with team coverage. Fox 11's Gina Silva and Matthew Sedorf are both on the ground live. Meteorologist Harvey is monitoring our weather conditions and our coverage begins tonight with Gina.

[00:01:19]Well, I can tell you that it is a devastating loss for one family here in Semi Valley. Let me move out of the way and just take a look at this. This is all that's left of that house.

[00:01:28]Practically nothing. The Sandy Fire has completely destroyed this home and witnesses say it happened in a matter of minutes.

[00:01:38]>> The fire was right here on the hill and all of a sudden everything just went black.

[00:01:44]Uh, there was no air to breathe and it was so intensely hot.

[00:01:50]>> I got to move in a minute >> because the smoke is crazy.

[00:01:55]>> That's what the Sandy Fire felt like up close and personal to Semi Valley resident Ron Wckler.

[00:02:00]>> It must have been terrifying for you watching all of us.

[00:02:03]>> I actually thought I was probably going to die.

[00:02:06]>> It all started as a small brush fire off Sandy Avenue shortly before 10:30 Monday morning. It quickly exploded into more than 1,300 acres.

[00:02:15]>> I was literally just hearing helicopters go by and I walk outside and just see a plume of smoke. Uh just seeing what was happening and following along with the news, just trying to figure out what's happening if I have to get out, if I have to get my dogs out.

[00:02:29]>> One home and trickling Brook Court didn't make it. Tonight, more than 550 firefighters are still out here on the ground and in the air fighting to make sure it stays at one.

[00:02:43]>> Gosh, they're amazing. They came through and got the guys up there on the hill once they got it knocked down enough.

[00:02:49]And you can see them still. They're all up there with hoses even up. I don't know how they got hoses all the way up there and shovels and everything just trying to get everything all the way out. And uh the people up in the air are the real heroes too, man. They're just dropping tons of FOS check. And >> tonight there is 0% containment and the evacuation orders and warning orders remain in place. All Semi Valley Unified School District, schools and campuses will be closed on Tuesday. And again, you know, this home here completely lost. The residents say that when they saw it, it was just it went up so quickly. There was really not much they could do except pack up and try to leave themselves because they thought their homes were going to go up in in flames as well.

[00:03:37]>> Do we know anything, >> Gina? Do we know anything about the family that lost their home?

[00:03:44]>> It is a husband and wife. Uh they were home when it happened and then they left right away. They did come back this evening, but they haven't spoken with reporters and you know, everyone is just giving them their space because obviously it's such a tremendous loss for them.

[00:03:58]>> Yeah. So devastating. We know the house that was destroyed was at the top of the culde-sac. Can you give us any sense as to where it was in proximity to the other homes that were being threatened?

[00:04:11]>> Well, I'll move out of the way. It is right at the top of the culde-sac. And the fire started on that hilltop right there. and it just quickly with those winds it was so strong that they uh you know blew right into the home. But that's pretty much the extent of it. I don't know where the other homes are.

[00:04:27]Obviously the house that's right next to it could have gone up, but firefighters did such an amazing job with all of the droppings that they made and also there were hand crews, strike teams on the ground immediately out there and uh you know just resources from so many different agencies. It's not just Ventura County, it's LA County, LA city, Oxnard is out here as well. They're doing a lot of structure protection. And uh so it's been an amazing uh manpower that they have had out here in this area just to make sure that it remains just at one.

[00:05:01]>> Ridled nerves uh left behind for sure.

[00:05:04]That soundbite, I thought I was going to die. That's uh that was really impactful.

[00:05:09]>> That says it all.

[00:05:10]>> Yeah, it really does say it all. Gina, thank you so much. And it does continue to burn tonight.

[00:05:17]>> The Sandy Fire continues burning and Fox 11's Matthew Seedorf continues our live team coverage. Matthew, >> yeah, we're right on the edge of the fire line and it seems like tonight conditions are improving. The wind has definitely died down, but firefighters just for hours today really overwhelming this fire. Elliot will show you kind of what we're looking at tonight. You can see all of that terrain that has burned as you've said, more than 1,300 acres.

[00:05:44]some flames up there on the hill and then all that smoke. Uh if you pan more towards our right here and pan a little bit out, you'll see just how close it got to these homes. This is right off of Seoia and then there's flames right right there. So just see how close it is. Not even just probably 50 yards from that line of homes. Uh but the support from the firefighters again really overwhelming. They've been coming in from the air uh putting those water drops on it seems like just every 30 seconds. Um, and then they're also on the ground with the dozers and the hand crews. We actually climbed up uh we climbed up this hillside uh behind us here just a little while ago with some of those firefighters that are climbing that terrain. They've got the hose line on their back that weighs about 60 lbs.

[00:06:27]And you can just see how steep it is up there. So quite the work that these firefighters are doing into the overnight hours trying to protect all these structures. as you've said, uh, one home unfortunately destroyed, but you can just see how many that they've saved and all the residents out here watching very closely. We've seen some evacuating, others out here with uh, garden hoses and pool pumps just doing what they can to help firefighters in this urgent battle. Uh, but again, tonight, it seems like things uh, conditions here are improving. The winds definitely dying down. Uh, but we're watching this very closely. I'll go ahead and send it back to you, >> Matthew. those homes that we're seeing right there. I can see the lights on.

[00:07:07]Not sure if that's indicating that people are still home, but this is an area that's under mandatory evacuation, right?

[00:07:15]>> Yeah. So, there's the uh evacuation order in place, mandatory. Uh I'd say it seems like about half and then the other half are here and a lot of them are outside uh with the hoses. Uh we've we've talked to people and interviewed them. will show you coming up hopefully uh with the pumps into their pool trying to get as much water as they can on these homes uh trying to do what they can to help firefighters.

[00:07:38]>> Obviously uh the officials there would like you to leave when it's mandatory they want you to get out for your own safety of course but give us an idea of how close you are to where we just saw Gina where that home was destroyed.

[00:07:53]>> Yeah, I want to say it's a couple of miles. Uh the fire started just down this hillside where we are right now and it kind of pushed that direction and then it turned around. So uh I know that everyone was kind of expecting that and we heard our meteorologists talking about that all afternoon expecting the winds to turn and it seemed like firefighters were prepared for that. But uh we're just amazed by the amount of resources out here. I mean again it seems like they're really overwhelming this. Uh for a while it sounded like a war zone just because the helicopters and the airplanes were just so constant.

[00:08:25]It's uh very impressive to see.

[00:08:28]>> That's great news to hear. All right, very good. Matthew Sedorf and Elliot Mendoza out there. Thank you so much.

[00:08:33]Quite the pair.

[00:08:35]>> Let's get to meteorologist Star Harvey now for an update on the current weather conditions. What are they up against in terms of their firefight star?

[00:08:44]>> Yes. Uh well, I can tell you with this view here right behind me across uh the burn area, we do still see some of that uh flickering there. Some smoke out there as well. What I can tell you is that the temperatures out in the Seami Valley area coming in in the 60s as we heard Matthew say. Those winds are dying down and uh the shift has happened in their direction. Uh currently those winds moving in single digits and we also have those gusts almost non-existent. So some good news there.

[00:09:11]winds earlier today pushing out of the northeast again, which is indication that we do have a Santa Ana event going on. The winds currently across the area pushing out of the west, but we do see that shift in winds picking back up out of the northeast. Should happen around uh the 8:00 hour, the middle of the 8:00 hour. And still, we'll continue to bring uh you some of those updates as we do progress through this 8:00 hour here.

[00:09:35]Currently, right now, uh we do have those mostly dry conditions out there.

[00:09:39]We are expecting to have mostly clear conditions. I can tell you that our red flag warning has been lifted. It did lift at the top of the 8:00 hour, but we do still sit in that elevated fire danger because we do still continue with those dry conditions through the remainder of this week. New here is our air quality alert, rightfully so. It is in place until tomorrow evening. all of our green highlighted area here again because we do still have uh the elements of some of that wildfire smoke still out there in the air. So again, if you are sensitive uh to those issues, just making sure to watch for that. Air quality alert checking in across the seam valley area. You'll see right here down our key that our air quality is coming in at a moderate level and again that is going to be unhealthy for those sensitive groups. and checking in on the humidity earlier today across the Seami Valley area. Big chunk of the uh San Fernando Valley as well. We did have our humidity levels in the teens, but as you can see uh we're actually our monitor is not picking up here, but I can tell you Hills and the Seami Valley area. We do have those humidity val uh values coming in the upper 40s and the 50s. So, some growth there. The higher those numbers in this situation, that is going to be better out there. And again, you couple that with the fact that the winds are dying down pretty good in this hour.