VENTURA COUNTY FIRESTORM : Voices

“They told me not to worry, that they had a handle on it. As the fire got closer, I called again to tell them it was looking bad. But the dispatcher wouldn’t put me through to anyone.”

--Harman Rasnow, the owner of a Ventu Park house demolished by the fire.

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“When you have a fire of this magnitude, we’re talking a lot of homes in danger. . . . We don’t have enough resources to put fire crews at every house.”

--Norman Plott, a captain in the Ventura County Fire Department.

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“Because of the wind, it moved real fast. Within 10 minutes, it came right down the hill. . . .”

--Anke Magnussen, owner of Royal Oaks Stable in Hidden Valley.

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“There’s nothing in the house that’s worth my life. I’ll just pack up and leave. All those people in Oakland stuck around and got killed. I don’t know what they were thinking.”

--Janice Johnston, a Ventu Park Road resident, preparing to evacuate.

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“I just bought a house here this past week. I wanted to come up here to see if I should pull out of escrow or not.”

--Tom Holm, a home buyer on Antelope Place along Deer Ridge in Newbury Park.

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“When the winds come up, you always start to watch for it. It’s probably going to end up burning to the ocean.”

--Diana Brister, a Ventu Park resident.

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“We left only with the clothes on our back. My mother was terrified. Everything is burned to the ground.”

--Eleanor Rasnow, a Ventu Park resident, whose family house burned.

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“If it comes over the ridge there, that’s it. We took the cat in so we could grab him if we needed. We took the pictures and put them in a bag. They are ready to go.”

--Erica Ehlers, Ventu Park resident, gathering up her family’s valuables.

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“We want to do everything we can. We’re not going to let it burn down. It’s my friend’s house.”

--Heather Wilson, one of a dozen teen-agers from Thousand Oaks High School who grabbed shovels and hoses to protect a classmate’s house on Larch Crest.

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“They told us to pack up and have our cars pointing down the hill. I’m nervous, but we’ve been through this before.”

--Donna Schiller, resident asked to evacuate from her home on Ventu Park Road.