As firefighters battle the Blue Cut Fire in San Bernardino County, the Chimney Fire in Northern San Luis Obispo (SLO) County, and the Soberanes Fire in Big Sur, Santa Barbara County firefighters are working on containing the Rey Fire several miles east of Cachuma Lake bordering the Los Padres Forest.
As of 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 23, the fire had burned 29,664 acres and was 30 percent contained since it started on Aug. 18, according to Cheryl Chipman, a public information officer for South Central Sierra Interagency Incident Management team.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
At least 1,428 personnel are working to contain the fire, Chipman said, with some firefighters coming from as far away as Florida, and equipment such as bulldozers and fire engines coming in from Nevada and Arizona.
So far, Chipman said there are no reports of structure damage. Only two minor injuries have been reported—including a firefighter suffering from dehydration, although the incident wasn’t serious, according to Chipman.
Carrie Topliffe, a public information officer for Santa Barbara County, told the Sun that one firefighter used an EpiPen to remedy a bee sting then went back to work fighting the blaze.
Firefighters have been able to contain the entire western flank of the fire, Topliffe told the Sun, and have held the southern end of the fire, near the Santa Ynez River.
A base camp has been established at Live Oak Camp near Cachuma Lake, where rows of tents, fire trucks, and a cluster of trailers for command and control are located.
Some crews have “spiked out,” or camped, near active fire locations, since it’s more efficient than having to relocate crews back and forth across rugged terrain to base camp, according to Chipman.
Plumes of smoke are visible from the Santa Barbara area and from highways 101 and 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley. East Camino Cielo Road is closed to traffic at the junctions of Painted Cave and Gibraltar roads. Paradise Road is closed. An evacuation order remains in place for Paradise Road recreation area, parts of Stagecoach Road, and Los Prietos Boys Camp.
According to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG), the Rey Fire is moving into areas with no known recorded fire history and is threatening the Santa Cruz Creek and Santa Ynez Watershed.
“It’s kind of a fire regime,” Chipman said.
However, fire crews may be able to catch a break as the fire moves northeast into areas burned by the Zaca Fire in 2007, which charred 240,207 acres and costed roughly $118 million to contain.
“Areas burned by the Zaca Fire don’t have the real old-growth fuel anymore,” Topliffe said.
Meanwhile, north of Cambria in SLO County, at least 3,785 personnel continue to battle the Chimney Fire, which had threatened to burn Hearst Castle.
As of the afternoon of Aug. 22, Cal Fire reported that the blaze burned more than 31,000 acres and is 35 percent contained.
More than 82,000 people were ordered to evacuate the area near the Blue Cut Fire, the Los Angeles Times reported, which destroyed at least 100 homes and scorched more than 37,000 acres. As of Monday afternoon, Aug. 22, NWCG reported that the fire was 89 percent contained.
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 1, 2016.
