Evacuees Allowed To Return To Camarillo Springs Homes

Although Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputies can’t force people to leave their homes, they often issue mandatory evacuation orders to protect people from disasters.

That is what deputies did during Tuesday’s rain in Camarillo Springs.

But geologists checked the hillside devastated by fire and an October 31st mudslide and decided it was safe.

First responders reduced the mandatory evacuation order to a voluntary order by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Many of the residents are senior citizens and decided not to return for good.

An 86-year-old’s caregiver said they would pick up some belongings and return to their hotel until Wednesday.

Several others evacuees who spent the day at an American Red Cross shelter were offered free hotel rooms at a nearby Marriott.

Dozens of homes were threatened by a 28,000 acres fire in May 2013. Firefighters did not find the cause of the fire, but they say it started near the 101 freeway and burned to the Pacific Coast Highway.

Much the area is still blackened by fire, and needs rain, but rain comes with the threat of more mudslides because new plants have not taken root.