More than 100,000 acres of the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Maria reopened to the public on Aug. 22, after being closed for almost a week due to the “Lightning Complex” fires. The blazes, now contained, burned a total of 244 acres.
Preisker Park, which was closed to the public in order to serve as the Incident Command Post for the fires, is now open to the public as well.
For more information about current fire conditions and area closures, check the National Incidents Web site at www.inciweb.org.
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 4, 2008.