By the second day of the Camarillo Springs wildfire, authorities were grateful that only 15 homes and a handful of RVs were damaged in the Camarillo area, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
But with the loss of 15 square miles of wilderness, brush and campgrounds, it is Southern California wildlife that has suffered the most, as captured in this incredible photo by photographer Michael Coons of The Acorn Newspapers.
He was on assignment to cover the wildfire in nearby Newbury Park Thursday afternoon when he spotted a pair of fawns running past him, about 30 to 50 yards away. Coons saw them disappear into the fire, but saw only one emerge and run into a part of the canyon that had already been burned. He said it was "pretty scared looking."
"I waited around to see if [the other one] was ok or not, but we never saw the second one again," Coons told The Huffington Post. "But I don't have any evidence to show it was injured in the fire."
The high temperature and low humidity, coupled with high-speed winds, created the perfect conditions for the wildfire to continue spreading when it first began Thursday. By Friday, the fire had jumped over the Pacific Coast Highway and reached the beach, burning up a Navy shooting range near Point Mugu State Park, reports the Associated Press.
By noon Friday, the fire was just two to three miles away from Malibu in Los Angeles County, reports Malibu Patch. However, the changing winds are now pushing the fire back east, a Ventura County Fire Department spokesman told Patch.
More than 900 firefighters are battling the blaze, which so far is about 10 percent contained, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. Responders have also deployed eight water-dropping helicopters and six fixed-wing air tankers dropping fire retardant Friday afternoon. There are no reports of firefighter or civilian injuries.
Story has been updated with more information about the wildfire. Click through the slideshow below for more photos from the two-day wildfire in Camarillo Springs, Calif.
