California News

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Giant fire in Los Padres forest to cross into Ventura County

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) - Ventura County fire officials are
bracing themselves for the arrival of a six-week-old wildfire
that's burned through more than 100,000 acres of wilderness in
adjacent Santa Barbara County.
A fire spokesman says hand crews, fire engines and bulldozers
are being moved into the expected path of the Zaca Fire.
The blaze is burning about 12 miles east of the Ventura County
town of Ojai, near where last year's Day Fire scorched more than
163,000 acres of brush.
A Los Padres National Forest fire spokesman says the Zaca Fire
is expected to cross into Ventura County some time this week,
either on its own or as part of a backburn operation by
firefighters.
The blaze is 58 percent contained, with full containment
expected September 7th.

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) - A huge wildfire burning in the
Santa Barbara County wilderness since July 4 moved slowly northeast
toward neighboring Ventura County on Thursday.
The 134,396-acre Zaca Fire was about eight miles from the county
line, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Larry Comerford.
Burning-out operations conducted Thursday were successful,
Comerford said.
Weather was cooperating, with no major winds blowing, but air
quality along the coast was bad due to smoke and ash, he said.
The fire, burning in the Dick Smith Wilderness and Los Padres
National Forest, was 59 percent contained. Full containment has
been predicted for Sept. 7.
The blaze was ignited by sparks from equipment used to repair a
water pipe.

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) - A massive fire in the Los Padres
National Forest grew an additional 11,500 acres Sunday, making it
one of the largest wildfire in modern California history, officials
said.
Authorities closed a highway and encouraged residents of about
two dozen rural Ventura County homes to evacuate while Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for Ventura County.
The move clears the way for state government assistance with costs
related to the fire.
"It's growing, and it may become the granddaddy of them all
before this is over with," Maeton Freel, a fire information
officer with the U.S. Forest Service told the Ventura County Star.
The fire had burned 199,588 acres of wilderness, or 312 square
miles. It was 75 percent contained, with more than 3,000 personnel
working on it.
A 45-mile stretch on Highway 33, between Ventucopa and Wheeler
Gorge, was closed to all traffic, including residents, fire
spokesman Larry Comerford said.
Most of the homes in the recommended evacuation zone are
surrounded by alfalfa fields and are near the Deal and Rancho Nuevo
Canyons in the Dick Smith Wilderness, where the fire has spread,
fire spokesman Ed Linquist said.
It was 75 percent contained. Full containment has been predicted
for Sept. 7. The fire has cost more than $83 million to fight since
it was ignited July 4 by sparks from equipment being used to repair
a water pipe.
In 1932, the Matilija Fire scorched about 220,000 acres in the
Los Padres National Forest, near where the Zaca fire has burned
since it began on July 4, fire officials said.
The 2003 Cedar Fire near San Diego burned more than 273,000
acres, destroyed 4,847 structures, and killed 15 people.
Meanwhile, a fast-moving wildfire in Central Idaho driven by
high winds was burning less than two miles away from homes ranging
from summer cottages to million-dollar houses, officials said
Sunday.
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter ordered residents of about 100 homes
to evacuate.
The fire had burned through 11 square miles of grasslands,
sagebrush and forest about eight miles west of the resort area of
Ketchum, fire spokesman David Olson said.
In western Montana, at least one home was destroyed Sunday by a
new wildfire that forced the evacuation of a 300-home subdivision
east of Billings, authorities said. Officials did not know the size
of the fire, but said it had destroyed at least one home and one
outbuilding.
Up to 100 homes between another wildfire and the community of
Evaro were still evacuated. Three mobile homes near Frenchtown were
destroyed when the fire exploded Thursday night.

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) - A highway that runs through
wilderness scorched by a vast wildfire was reopened Monday, as
firefighters aided by higher humidity and cooler weather beat back
the diminishing blaze.
The fire has burned more than 240,000 acres - 375 square miles -
since July 4 in rural, mountainous stretches of Santa Barbara and
Ventura counties. Its advance has been cut off in nearly all areas.
Authorities reopened Highway 33, a main route through the area,
that had been closed for more than a week.
Authorities said the fire was 90 percent contained and will be
fully surrounded by Sept. 7.
Despite its size, the fire has only destroyed one structure, an
outbuilding. There have been 42 injuries, mostly minor.
Firefighters were using an array of helicopters and airplanes to
dump water in steep canyons and remote ridges in Los Padres
National Forest, where the fire is burning. Amid the scorched
areas, there also were unburned islands of brush that could flare
up.
After burning for nearly two months, "There is very little open
fire now," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Don Ferguson. But
smoldering areas "will keep putting up smoke for quite a while."
A request for voluntary evacuations of 10 homes was lifted, said
Forest Service spokesman Victor Gutierrez
More than 2,000 people were involved in fighting the fire.
Sparks from equipment being used to repair a water pipe ignited
the blaze north of Los Olivos on July 4. The cost of fighting the
fire has been estimated at over $100 million.
Elsewhere, a fire that erupted on the foothills of the San
Gabriel Mountains above the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena was
contained at 12 acres Sunday night after sending up smoke visible
across the metropolitan area. The cause remained under
investigation Monday, said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Ron
Haralson.

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) - Firefighters have nearly surrounded
the Zaca wildfire that has been burning for nearly two months in
Los Padres National Forest.
Fire bosses said Tuesday that the 240,207-acre blaze is 95
percent surrounded and full containment is now expected Sept. 4,
three days earlier than previous estimates.
"Most of the fire doesn't have an infrared signature anymore,"
U.S. Forest Service spokesman Don Ferguson said.
Some 375 square miles of wilderness have burned since the fire
started July 4 north of Los Olivos and raged through 100-year-old
thickets of brush and in rugged inaccessible terrain east of Santa
Ynez Valley vineyards and ranchland.
Sparks from equipment being used to repair a water pipe ignited
the blaze.
Higher humidity and cooler weather helped firefighters gain on
the fire in recent days. Nearly 2,200 firefighters and 33 aircraft
were still working on the fire Tuesday.
Firefighting costs have exceeded $108 million.
No homes were damaged. The only structure destroyed was an
outbuilding.
There have been 42 firefighter injuries, mostly minor.

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SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) - Fire crews on Monday battled a
handful of wildfires across Southern California amid triple-digit
temperatures and winds from thunderstorms.
From Los Angeles to San Bernardino counties, hundreds of
firefighters worked to surround blazes that scorched hundreds of
acres of dry brush, but no homes were immediately threatened and no
major injuries were reported.
In Angeles National Forest, authorities ordered voluntary
evacuations for a small cluster of homes about five miles south of
Acton after a wind-driven blaze grew from 350 acres to 600 acres,
Forest Service spokesman Bruce Quintelier said.
Nearly 400 firefighters and several water-dropping aircraft were
working the fire, which was 15 percent contained.
The blaze had died down by Monday evening, but authorities
warned flames could spread Tuesday as temperatures rise in the day.
"There is a potential for extreme fire growth," Quintelier
said. "This fire is a long ways from being dead and being
contained."
Another fire charred about 300 acres near Elizabeth Lake in the
Lancaster area and was 78 percent contained.
Flames jumped the fire line in several places during a flare up
Monday, but crews were able to control those spot fires, said
Inspector Jason Hurd of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
One firefighter was treated for a heat-related illness.
Investigators had not determined what sparked the fire, but
lightning strikes had been seen across the region.
Meanwhile, firefighters tackled an 85-acre wildfire in the San
Bernardino National Forest at the east end of Big Bear Lake.
The blaze was 45 percent contained, but it forced the closure of
a five-mile stretch of Highway 18, fire officials said. The road
was expected to reopen Tuesday. The cause of the fire also is under
investigation.

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MORGAN HILL, Calif. (AP) - Gusty winds kept firefighters on
their toes Wednesday as crews struggled to contain scattered brush
fires tearing through parched terrain across the state.
The fires flared up over the weekend, when temperatures surged
past 110 degrees in some parts of California, creating tinder-like
conditions in areas already starved of water by an unusually dry
winter and spring.
Investigators announced that a 14,000-acre blaze burning in
Northern California's Henry W. Coe State Park about 20 miles
southeast of San Jose started when a fire set in a barrel
accidentally escaped into the brush.
"This was not arson. This was 'oops,"' said California
Department of Forestry spokeswoman Pam Rhoten.
Hot, dry winds continued to push the flames through the park's
rugged, steep terrain, thwarting the efforts of more than 1,700
firefighters to halt the spread of the blaze. The fire was 25
percent contained Wednesday evening.
Some private cabins in the park were threatened, but an
outbuilding was the only structure destroyed so far, officials
said. Rangers evacuated hikers and campers from the park shortly
after the fire began Monday, but homes outside the park were not
immediately threatened.
To the south, in the Angeles National Forest, a four-day-old
fire about 10 miles east of Santa Clarita grew to 2,100 acres, but
Forest Service spokeswoman Stanton Florea said hundreds of
firefighters made progress in their efforts to cut a line around
the blaze, which was 46 percent contained.
Firefighters lifted the voluntary evacuation of 25 rural homes
south of Acton on Tuesday. No injuries were reported, and no
structures had burned.
Milder weather also helped firefighters quell a 300-acre blaze
that erupted near Elizabeth Lake in the Lancaster area, Los Angeles
County Fire Department Inspector Jason Hurd said.
"It's pretty much a done deal, we're basically in the mop-up
stages," Hurd said. "The weather was pretty decent today."
Meanwhile, firefighters tackling an 85-acre wildfire in the San
Bernardino National Forest at the east end of Big Bear Lake
declared the blaze 100 percent contained Tuesday.
Firefighters also announced the containment Tuesday of 170-acre
blaze that temporarily closed a nearly 20-mile stretch of Highway
101 along Santa Barbara County's Gaviota coast.

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Pics of Lick Fire Days 1 & 2







Lick Fire Incident Information:
Last Updated: September 8, 2007 7:00 pm
Date/Time Started: September 3, 2007 1:45 pm
Administrative Unit: CAL FIRE Santa Clara Unit
County: Santa Clara County
Location: Henry Coe State Park, 2 miles north of Mt. Sizer
Acres Burned: 47,436 acres
Containment 50% contained - 47,436 acres; Full containment expected September 9.
Henry Coe State Park
Structures Destroyed: 2 Outbuilding
Threatened: 25 Residences, 10 Outbuildings
Injuries: 4
Cause: Human
Cooperating Agencies: California State Parks, South Santa Clara Fire Protection District, Santa Clara County Fire Department
Total Fire Personnel: 1,823 (1,480 CAL FIRE)
Fire crews: 51 (50 CAL FIRE)
Engines: 176 (111 CAL FIRE)
Airtankers: 4 CAL FIRE
Helicopters: 10 (2 CAL FIRE)
Dozers: 28 (23 CAL FIRE)
Water tenders: 33
Costs to date: $6.4 million
Major Incident Command Team: Incident Command Team #2
Conditions: The fire is burning within the Henry Coe State Park in a remote location which makes access difficult. Local camp grounds and trails have been evacuated.