BRUSH FIRE IN VENTURA FOOTHILLS BURNS 60 ACRES, BUT NO HOMES.

Byline: Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writer

Firefighters were ``getting a handle'' on a brush fire that broke out Saturday afternoon near homes in the foothills above Ventura.

Nearly 140 firefighters were called in to fight the blaze, which had charred about 60 acres of chaparral, said Ventura County Fire Capt. Gary Smith.

``Things are going pretty well,'' Smith said. ``The wind is pushing it away from homes.''

Officials said they were beginning to contain the blaze by 4 p.m.

Flames broke out just after 1 p.m. near a residential area above Via Arroyo in Ventura, then fanned out into the county area of Ondulando Hills, Smith said.

Witnesses saw a boy and girl running from the scene and reported it to police, said Ventura police Sgt. Jerry Thurston.

A 15-year-old boy and girl matching witnesses' descriptions were being questioned Saturday afternoon, Thurston said.

``We want to find out what they know,'' Thurston said.

Fire crews on the ground and in the air were able to keep the blaze more than a mile from residential areas, Smith said.

From in front of his home on Via Arroyo, Leek Baker watched as firefighters worked to extinguish hot spots that flared in the wind.

``I'm not packing unless the wind changes,'' Baker said. ``The fire crews are doing a good job keeping it away from the homes.''

Baker recalled past fires in the area, one two years ago and a ``big one'' in 1979.

``We're in the foothills, but the area is pretty accessible to firefighters,'' Baker said. ``You just have to expect a fire every so often.''

In the Cuyama area of Santa Barbara County, firefighters Saturday contained a 3,000-acre blaze in the Los Padres National Forest and were expecting it to be fully controlled by Monday evening.

``Once the smoke cleared and they got a good look at it, they saw it wasn't as much as they thought,'' Santa Barbara County fire spokesman Kent Boisen told the Associated Press.