Authorities from the U.S. Forest Service, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, and other agencies held a press conference on Aug. 18 to provide more information about the cause of the La Brea Fire.
Investigators determined the fire was started by a cooking device used by a member of a Mexican drug organization, said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Drew Sugars.
“We estimate the grow at about 30,000 plants,” Sugars told the Sun after the press conference. “Most of it didn’t burn, but it was wilted and damaged. We eradicated the rest of it.”
The individuals who started the fire are still at large, Sugars said.
“They could still be out in the wilderness because that area is extremely remote,” he said.
Members of the public are urged not to approach anyone who looks suspicious, but to alert Forest Service members or local law enforcement agents.
The La Brea Fire tip line is still open and can be reached at 686-5074.
U.S. Forest Service officials could not be reached as of press time.
As of Aug. 18, containment of the almost 89,000-acre fire remained at approximately 75 percent.
On-the-ground “hotshot” crews made “excellent progress” on quelling the Cottonwood Canyon area of the fire, despite dry weather conditions and wind gusts, according to a report from the U.S. Forest Service. As a result, officials lifted fire evacuation orders for Pine and Tepusquet canyons, and the area bordered by Cottonwood Canyon Road and Highway 166.
Crews continued to build fire lines on Sierra Madre Ridge, mopping up hot spots and constructing water bars to help control future erosion.
Also on Aug. 18, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District re-issued an air quality watch for the county because of ash and smoke levels.
Ongoing air advisory updates are available at OurAir.org.
For more information about the fire, visit inciweb.org.
This article appears in Aug 20-27, 2009.