A vegetation fire at Vandenberg Air Force Base, called the Canyon Fire, has escalated rapidly, causing launch delays and drawing efforts from hundreds of local firefighters.
The flame started on Saturday, Sept. 17, on South Base, initially affecting 50 acres near Arguello and Santa Ynez Ridge roads, according to Vandenberg’s public affairs office. As of 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 20, the blaze had grown beyond 10,000 acres “more than doubling in the past 24 hours” and was 18 percent contained.
Firefighters responded from Vandenberg, U.S. Forestry, Cal Fire, and Santa Barbara County Fire (SBCF). Vandenberg’s public affairs office didn’t have updated information on injuries caused by the fire as of press time, though SBCF’s news line reported two minor injuries.
The news line said that in addition to ground crews, firefighters were responding with helicopters dropping water and air tankers dropping retardant.
The Vandenberg press office said the fire delayed the Atlas V launch, originally scheduled for Sept. 18. The launch would have delivered a commercial Earth-imaging satellite into space. Atlas V stands on Space Launch Complex 3-East, one of several launch pads located on South Base, where the fire began.
According to a Vandenberg press release, “fire teams made strong progress along the south and east portions of the fire” on Sept. 19. Unfortunately, the fire continued to grow to the west and north, remaining “significant and unpredictable” and limiting South Base access to emergency personnel only.
This article appears in Sep 22-29, 2016.
