As wildfires continued to scorch more than 100,000 acres and destroy hundreds of homes, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their neighborhoods throughout Southern California Thursday, credit union executives say they are handling the natural disaster as best as they can, and one CEO gave an insider's look about how he's managing the crisis.

Patrick Miller, president/CEO of the $473 million CBC Federal Credit Union in Oxnard, had to close one of its six branches in Ventura. That location, however, also houses the credit union's call center and consumer lending team. The team members were reassigned to other branches with minimal service interruptions.

“With multiple departments impacted by the branch closure, we were immediately placed into our “BCP (business continuity plan) threat level 2 procedures,” Miller said. “We established a 'war room' for constant monitoring, and to send updates to our board and team members multiple times per day.  Our team members were calm, composed, and acted quickly to take care of our members. I cannot say enough about how well they have handled things.”

Executives re-evaluate every day whether to re-open the Ventura operations. AVP of Risk & Compliance Tim Rademaker and another leader travel to Ventura every morning to evaluate the conditions there. They spend 30 minutes to make their on-site assessment.

“For the last three days in a row, they have developed watery eyes, and can feel the smoke when they breathe,” Miller said. “It's not a scientific method, but we simply make the call from a team member perspective, 'Would I feel at risk by working in these conditions today?'”

Eleven CBC employees were forced to evacuate their homes, but fortunately, they did not lose their homes to the fire. Five or six employees reported minor damage to their homes. However, two members notified the credit union that their homes were destroyed.

Joe Schroeder, president/CEO of the $835 million Ventura County Credit Union, said10 employees were evacuated but none of them reported a total loss to their homes yet.

“VCCU closed three branches Wednesday but they have reopened today,” he said. “The air quality is much better in the city of Ventura today, but the Santa Ana winds over the next four days can change that at any time. Flames did not reach any of our branches but plenty of smoke did.”

Rudy Pereira, president/CEO of the $2.4 billion Premier America Credit Union in Chatsworth, said about five staff members were forced to evacuate their home and four members lost their homes.

Other credit unions, such as the $633 Water and Power Community Credit Union, that were forced to close a branch on Tuesday and Wednesday because of excessive smoke and poor air quality reopened for business on Thursday.

“We were fortunate in that no employees were directly impacted or affected by the fires,” said Barry Roach, president/CEO of the Los Angeles-based credit union.

The $2.8 billion Unify Financial Federal Credit Union also was lucky to avoid misfortune so far.

“We are thankful to say, at this point, there has been minimal impact to our UNIFY team,” said Neil Kochan, member communications and project manager for the Torrance-based credit union.

The National Weather Service in Los Angeles Thursday extended a “red flag warning” through Saturday. The red flag warning means there is extreme fire danger because of gusty Santa Ana winds and low humidity across the region. However, the NWS also reported that the gusty winds are expected to weaken on Saturday, which may finally provide some measure of relief.

Although wildfires in San Bernardino have been 100% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, wildfires in Los Angeles County are 15% or less contained. In addition, a new wildfire is threatening 175 acres in San Diego County, fire officials said.