Maybe The Preachers Were Right About Southern California Being The Gateway To Hell

How else to explain this?:

A patch of land in Ventura County where the ground heated up to more than 800 degrees Friday continues to puzzle firefighters and geologists.

...The area is considered an active landslide that in the last 60 years has moved and trapped hydrocarbons, found in petroleum products, natural gas and coal, some several hundred feet deep, Oatman said. After it dried out, the earth began to crack and oxygen crept in, causing "some sort of combustion," he said.

Smoke rose through five cracks in the ground on Friday. From a distance, it looked like "a small, smoldering camp fire," Oatman said.

...This same land area has recorded high heat about five or six times since 1987 and has always been dubbed a "natural phenomenon," Oatman said.