La Brea Fire 8-17
The fire in the San Rafael Wilderness area has now burned about 87,500 acres and is 75% contained. A significant portion of the rapid increase in the acreage is do to back fires.
Investigators now say that the La Brea Fire was started by a cooking fire at a drug trafficking camp.
InciWeb Notes: “An evacuation order is still in place for the 23 threatened residences on Foothill Road in Cotton Canyon. Two structures have been destroyed by the La Brea Fire one was the non-operational White Oaks Ranger Station and the other a hunter’s cabin.”
There have been 2 minor injuries fighting the fire. The fire has already cost $6.3 million.
Currently there are 126 engines, 56 crews, 30 dozers, 5 air tankers, 12 helicopters, 59 water tenders and 2,078 total personnel assigned to the fire.
The Martin Mars water scoop aircraft is now on station, using Cachuma Lake for refilling its tanks.
Links: The KEYT La Brea Fire article, the Santa Barbara Independent La Brea Fire page, InciWeb La Brea page with a map, KSBY has videos and the Enplan Wildfire Viewer, which used satellite sensors to spot fires.
[For more information go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Fires” for all of the posts related to wildfires on this site.]
2 comments
The ash hasn’t been as bad today and the fog has certainly helped, although the smell of smoke still permeates…and the sunsets are still gorgeously red.
It will be a long time before the smell of smoke fades. The fog will help, but rain is much better at scrubbing the air. Both fires look like they will be 100% contained in the next couple of days. I noticed they have released some people for other fires in the state.