Ventura County fire officials say an 8,000-acre wildfire has topped a ridge and reached the Pacific Coast Highway.

Fire Capt. Bill Nash says the fire reached the PCH - which had been closed for the second time in a day - at about 9 p.m. Thursday night.

Nash says the wildfire is still growing and the 10% containment the department had cited earlier was likely to be reduced.

By sunset firefighters had gained ground against the blaze that broke out along U.S. 101 and threatened 2,000 homes.

But a late surged forced a new series of evacuations and the PCH shutdown.

The blaze erupted during morning rush hour along U.S. 101 in the Camarillo area about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. It was quickly spread by the winds, which also pushed other damaging blazes across the region.
Flames quickly moved down slopes toward subdivisions, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. More than 12 1/2 square miles were charred, and the fire was about 10 percent contained.

'We know the fire is bigger than that, but it's in some difficult terrain so it's hard to know,' said fire spokesman Bill Nash.

A cluster of RVs in a parking lot was destroyed as flames moved close to a mobile home park.

About 2,000 homes were threatened by flames and 15 sustained damage, but none was destroyed, officials said.

No firefighter injuries were rep.