Mountain Fire (2024)

The Maria Fire was a wildfire that burned the south of the community of Santa Paula in the area of Somis, California on the top of South Mountain in Ventura County. The fire ignited in the evening hours of Thursday, October 31, 2019 and consumed well over 4,000 acres (16 km2) within its first several hours of burning. Despite the aggressive initial attack by first responders, the fire exploded rapidly due to a strong Santa Ana wind event that was occurring in the area during its ignition.

Binglin Stable in Moorpark, Ventura County, California, was a stock farm established during the latter part of the 1930s to race and breed Thoroughbred horses. The stable was owned by entertainer Bing Crosby and close friend, Lindsay Howard. Crosby was a fan of Thoroughbred horse racing who in 1937 became a founding partner and member of the board of directors of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, operators of Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. Lindsay Howard's father, Charles S. Howard, was a millionaire businessman who was also a founding partner and director of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and who owned a successful racing stable that included the 1938 U.S. Horse of the Year, Seabiscuit. Upon his retirement from riding, future Hall of Fame jockey Albert Johnson, a childhood friend of Crosby, became the stable's trainer. Lindsay Howard was a top-ranked polo player, as was his brother Robert. They frequently played in Argentina, the polo capital of the world, and as such the brothers and Crosby decided to establish "Caballeriza Binglin Stock Farm" near Buenos Aires where they purchased a number of locally bred horses and shipped them back to the United States. As well, Binglin Stable raced horses at Hipódromo de Palermo in Palermo, notably the mare Blackie whom they later sent to the US to serve as a broodmare. Blackie would appear on the cover of the September 19, 1942 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Other Argentine horses of note that Binglin Stable brought to the US included Kayak II, who was sold to Charles S. Howard, plus Ligaroti and Don Bingo, the latter a winner of the 1943 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. On August 12, 1938, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club hosted a $25,000 winner-take-all match race between Seabiscuit and Ligaroti. In an era when horse racing ranked second in popularity with Americans to Major League Baseball, the match race was much written and talked about and drew a record crowd that helped make the fledgling Del Mar race track a success. It was the first nationwide broadcast of a thoroughbred race by NBC radio. Many racing experts felt that Ligaroti was not in the same class as Seabiscuit, but the two horses battled head to head with Seabiscuit winning by a nose. The Binglin Stable partnership ended in 1953 as a result of a liquidation of assets by Bing Crosby to raise the funds to pay the federal and state inheritance taxes on his late wife's estate.

The Santa Clara River Valley is a rural, mainly agricultural, valley in Ventura County, California that has been given the moniker Heritage Valley by the namesake tourism bureau. The valley includes the communities of Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru and the national historic landmark of Rancho Camulos. Named for the Santa Clara River, which winds through the valley before emptying into the Pacific Ocean between the cities of Ventura and Oxnard, the tourist bureau describes it as ".... Southern California's last pristine agricultural valley nestled along the banks of the free-flowing Santa Clara River."

Sespe Creek (Chumash: S'eqp'e', "Kneecap") is a stream, some 61 miles (98 km) long, in Ventura County, southern California, in the Western United States. The creek starts at Potrero Seco in the eastern Sierra Madre Mountains, and is formed by more than thirty tributary streams of the Sierra Madre and Topatopa Mountains, before it empties into the Santa Clara River in Fillmore. Thirty-one miles (50 km) of Sespe Creek is designated as a National Wild and Scenic River and National Scenic Waterway, and is untouched by dams or concrete channels. It is one of the last wild rivers in Southern California. It is primarily within the southern Los Padres National Forest. The name Sespe can be traced to a Chumash Indian village, called Cepsey, Sek-pe or S'eqpe' ("Kneecap") in the Chumash language in 1791. The village appeared in a Mexican Alta California land grant called Rancho Sespe or Rancho San Cayetano in 1833.

The South Mountain Oil Field is a large and productive oil field in Ventura County, California, in the United States, in and adjacent to the city of Santa Paula. Discovered in 1916, and having a cumulative production of over 158 million barrels (25,100,000 m3) of oil, it is the 37th largest oil field in California and the second largest in Ventura County (after the Ventura field). As of the beginning of 2009, it retains 316 active wells, and has an estimated 1.4 million barrels (220,000 m3) of oil remaining recoverable with current technology. Vintage Production, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, was the largest operator as of 2009.

The Arroyo Simi (Spanish for "Small Stream of Simi", sometimes also referred to as Simi Creek) is a 19-mile (31 km) westwards-running creek, located in California, United States, running from the city of Simi Valley and crosses the valley from east to west, before entering the city of Moorpark. It originates at Corriganville Park by the Santa Susana Pass, travels for 12 miles (19 km) through Simi Valley, leaves the city limits of Oak Park at the western end of Simi Valley, continues for seven miles in Moorpark where it merges with Arroyo Las Posas by Hitch Road. It is a tributary to the Calleguas Creek, which enters the Pacific Ocean by its estuary at Mugu Lagoon by Naval Air Station Point Mugu. Arroyo Simi drains an area of 343 square miles in southern Ventura County. In its natural state, it is an ephemeral creek, which is only seasonally filled during winter time and periods of heavy rain. Today it is for the most part a concrete lined water drain that flows year round. Tributaries to the Arroyo Simi include the Alamos, Sycamore, Dry, Tapo, Las Llajas, White Oak, Runkle, and Bus Canyon Creeks, as well as the Erringer Road and North Simi Drains. Arroyo Simi Greenway is an ongoing construction project by the City of Simi Valley to increase the recreational use of its river parkways. The project includes new paved hiking and biking trails along the Arroyo Simi, exhibit signs, sixteen new trail entries, and more. The area is administered as the Arroyo Simi Bike Path by the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District (RSRPD). It is home to native flora, fish, and birds. It is home to fish species such as the brown bullhead, green sunfish, bluntnose minnow, and mosquitofish. It is an important habitat for various species of freshwater-nesting birds in the Simi Valley. Some of the species include the great blue heron, white-faced ibis, black-crowned night heron, green heron, black-necked stilt, great egret, snowy egret, belted kingfisher, black phoebe, killdeer, common yellowthroat, greater yellowlegs, American coot, and mallard.

Bardsdale United Methodist Church is a historic church located at 1498 Bardsdale Avenue in the unincorporated community of Bardsdale, California, in Ventura County. It is south of the Santa Clara River approximately 3 miles (5 km) from Fillmore. Built in 1898, as Bardsdale Methodist Episcopal Church, this carpenter Gothic structure with a 60 ft (18 m) bell tower and high-peaked arches has long been a center of community life in Bardsdale. The town's namesake, Thomas R. Bard, donated the land for construction of the church and parsonage. He also donated funds to help purchase two large stained glass windows installed in the north and west walls. When the church opened, in April 1898, the Los Angeles Times reported on its dedication:"The Bardsdale Methodist Episcopal Church was dedicated last Sunday by Dr. G.W. White of Los Angeles. The building cost $2550, will seat 350 persons, and has a fine basement fitted for social gatherings. There was $550 remaining due on the building, which was subscribed Sunday morning." On April 23, 1968, the Methodist Church was merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form the United Methodist Church. The name was then changed to Bardsdale United Methodist Church. A portion of the ceiling fell on a parishioner during a service in 1982, leading to an extensive renovation. The renovation and restoration work included materials purchased from a church in Los Angeles that had closed in 1982. The materials salvaged from that church included stained-glass windows, an oak chancel, chandeliers, pews, marble facing around the interior doors, a hand-carved pulpit, lectern and communion rail.The church also features a Schoenstein pipe organ that was purchased in 1986, with $60,000 donated by parishioners. In a tradition dating back to the mid-1960s, the Bardsdale Chancel Choir performs a free holiday vesper program during the Christmas season.The Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board designated the clapboard church County Landmark #50 in 1979, calling it "the only example of carpenter Gothic in the Fillmore-Bardsdale area." The Gothic church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

The Sycamore Tree is a historic tree used for many years as a special meeting place. The tree is located just off California State Route 126 in the middle of Hall Road, 4 Miles East of Santa Paula, California in Ventura County. Address is in the 3800 block of Sycamore Road, Fillmore, California, just north of the Santa Clara River. The site became California Historical Landmark number 756 on February 22, 1960. The tree has been used in the past as a polling place, Padres resting place on the El Camino Real, outdoor chapel and post office. In December 1846 General John C. Frémont passed the tree on his trip to sign a treaty with General Andrés Pico to secure California's annexation to the United States, called the Treaty of Cahuenga. The Treaty was signed on January 13, 1847, at Campo de Cahuenga in what is now Universal City, California.The missing California Historical Landmark reads: In 1846 General John C. Frémont passed this sycamore tree on his way to sign a treaty with General Andrés Pico to secure California for annexation to the United States. The tree has served as a resting place, a polling place, a temporary post office, and an outdoor chapel. While the marker missing, on Route 126 is a sign 500 feet before the tree.

Bardsdale is a rural unincorporated community and populated place in Ventura County, California. It is located in the orange blossom and agricultural belt of the Santa Clara River Valley, south of the Santa Clara River and on the north slope of South Mountain. The closest town is Fillmore, which is on the north side of the Santa Clara about 3 miles (5 km) from Bardsdale. Santa Paula is about 7 miles (11 km) west, the most direct route being South Mountain Road. Moorpark is about 6 miles (10 km) south over the serpentine mountain road known as Grimes Canyon. The Bardsdale area has long been a center of citrus ranching, having a large number of verdant orange orchards with home sites interspersed among them. The citrus of Sunkist growers in Bardsdale is sold throughout the country and around the world. Oranges - mostly Valencias - are the main crop, other crops include lemons, avocados, and row cropped vegetables. Bardsdale gently slopes from South Mountain to the river and has a sweeping, panoramic view of the Santa Clara River Valley, dominated by the peaks of the Sespe and San Cayetano Mountains. The community is home to the Bardsdale United Methodist Church, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Bardsdale Cemetery serves the community as well as Fillmore, which has no other cemetery. The Elkins Ranch Golf Course is on the east edge of Bardsdale. The area is serviced by the Ventura County Sheriff's Department and the Ventura County Fire Department.

Somis ( ; Chumash: Śo Mís) is an unincorporated community in Ventura County, California. It was established in 1892 by Thomas Bard and D.T. Perkins on a portion of the Rancho Las Posas Mexican land grant. Somis is in the Las Posas Valley: 194  on the south bank of Fox Barranca, just west of Arroyo Las Posas. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Somis as a census-designated place (CDP).

KLJR-FM (96.7 MHz "La Mejor") is a radio station that is licensed to Santa Paula, California and broadcasts to the Oxnard–Ventura radio market. The station is owned by Radio Lazer and airs a classic regional Mexican music format.

Rancho Sespe was a 8,881-acre (35.94 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Ventura County, California given in 1833 by Governor José Figueroa to Carlos Antonio Carrillo. The grant encompassed the Santa Clara River Valley between Piru Creek on the east and Santa Paula Creek on the west, and was bounded to the north and south by the mountains, and included present day Fillmore.