Crews are using a break in the Santa Ana winds to make headway on the devastating Mountain Fire, which has burned more than 130 homes and injured half a dozen people in Ventura County.

In an update issued just before 6 a.m. Saturday, CAL FIRE confirmed that the blaze, which broke out Wednesday morning near Balcom Canyon and Bradley roads in Somis, stood at 20,630 acres and was 17% contained.

Late Friday night, officials stated that fire activity “moderated” due to the decrease in wind speeds, which reached as high as 80 miles per hour in some locations this week and made the firefight incredibly challenging.

That said, the threat to structures remains imminent.

“The fire remains a threat to critical infrastructure,” CAL FIRE said. “Islands of unburned fuel will continue to burn within the fire footprint.”

The break in the winds provided a better opportunity to survey the widespread damage from the fire; entire neighborhoods were reduced to ash, mountainsides are now completely charred and families are forever changed.

“It’s horrible…I couldn’t stop crying,” said Suzette Barrick, a local resident. “[My neighbor] Barbara…a sweet lady, her house is gone, but the one next to hers is fine. [The home of] our friend and her husband – super nice, funny people – is now gone to the ground.”

Another man whose home was owned by his family for nearly four decades told KTLA 5’s Omar Lewis on Saturday morning that he, his wife, his grandmother and his newborn baby now don’t have a place to live, and that their lives were “turned upside down in a matter of minutes” by the fire.

“Those rooms had such value to us because we grew up here…this was the meeting spot for our entire family,” Brandon Francis said. “We knew we had only ten to 20 minutes to grab everything we could and get out by the time we started smelling the ash and getting those calls.”

“I think the thing that affects us the most is the nursery,” he continued. “My wife put so much love that she never got growing up into that.”

Click here to donate to a GoFundMe set up to help the Francis family recover from the devastating effects of the fire.

The smoke from the Mountain Fire has triggered the National Weather Service to issue an Air Quality Alert and mandatory wood burning ban lasting through Saturday afternoon.

Updates on the Mountain Fire from officials can be found below.

A State of Emergency was declared Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced, adding that FEMA approved a grant to support the firefight. On Friday afternoon, Newsom signed an executive order that will expedite debris removal and cleanup, procure more resources and allow for the mobilization of the California National Guard.

Evacuation orders remain in place for thousands of residents, and an evacuation center has been opened at Padre Serra Parish, located at 5205 Upland Road in Camarillo.

Dozens of displaced animals are being housed at Ventura County Animal Services, located at 600 North Aviation Drive in Camarillo. Stray pets have shown up at its shelters, and evacuated residents were advised to contact Animal Services to bring them home.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. A Mountain Fire hotline has been set up and will be available on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. by calling 805-465-6650.