Fueled by critically low humidity and Santa Ana winds, the fast-spreading mountain fire swept through Ventura County's mountain communities, scorching more than 20,000 acres and threatening over 5,000 homes by Thursday evening, authorities said.

Satellite images captured by NASA and Maxar Technologies show the ferocity of the fire as homes are reduced to rubble and a huge plume of smoke rises into the atmosphere.

A huge cloud of smoke spread into the atmosphere from the devastating mountain fire on Wednesday afternoon.

(NASA)

The fire ignited Wednesday morning in the Somis neighborhood and spread quickly, forcing residents in the Camarillo, Moorpark, Santa Paula and Fillmore areas to flee.

The eastern edge of the Mountain Fire can be seen Thursday.

(Maxar)

Containment remained at 0% as of 5 p.m. Thursday as Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Ventura County to mobilize resources to fight the insidious fire. Times reporters counted more than 90 homes in the area destroyed by the fire and several more damaged.

A satellite image shows the rubble of homes in a Camarillo neighborhood.

(Maxar)

Firefighters battled wind gusts of 60 to 80 miles per hour as well as problems with low water pressure in the steep hills as they tried to stop the fire in its tracks.

The fire “remains dynamic and it remains dangerous,” Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said Thursday morning.

Burning embers swirl as a home on Valley Vista Drive in Camarillo goes up in flames.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)