scorched

In Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on Sunday, onlookers gawked at a charred hilltop, where newly fallen leaves had already obscured the scorched earth of Friday’s 2-acre brushfire.

Favorable weather conditions helped thousands of firefighters get the upper hand Saturday on the devastating Mountain fire that has scorched some 20,000 acres, destroyed more than 130 homes and damaged nearly 90 others — while upending the lives of Ventura County residents.

The Mountain fire has been the most destructive wildfire in Southern California in several years — though it has not approached the damage caused by the 2017 Thomas fire, which scorched more than 280,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, or the even more devastating Woolsey fire the following year.

Their property was among the 132 structures destroyed by the fast-moving Mountain fire, which ignited Wednesday morning and scorched more than 20,000 acres in the mountains of Ventura County by Thursday evening.

So far, the fire has scorched more than 14,000 acres and is threatening thousands of homes.