Fire officials who had hoped to announce full containment of the 9-day-old Jesusita Fire on Wednesday, instead said it might take another week with the return of dry, windy weather and rising temperatures. Early Thursday, strong wind gusts were buffeting Montecito near the fire’s eastern flank and temperatures had climbed into the low 80s.
Meanwhile, officials from the CALFIRE Incident Management Team and Unified Command scheduled a community meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at La Cumbre Junior High, 2255 Modoc Road. State, federal and local fire and law enforcement officials will provide first-hand information about the wildfire, which started the afternoon of May 5 on the Jesusita Trail in upper San Roque Canyon. The presentation will include a question-and-answer session.
Officials revised their damage estimates Wednesday to 80 homes, 79 outbuildings and a commercial business destroyed and 15 homes and two outbuildings damaged. The fluctuations, they said, are the result of further field assessments.
The blaze was at 8,733 acres burned and 90 percent containment Thursday morning. At 10:30 a.m. Thursday, officials lifted the last of the mandatory evacuation orders, for East Camino Cielo, east of Painted Cave, and all of Gibraltar Road. Evacuation warnings remain in effect for Gibraltar Road on the western boundary; El CieIito to Sycamore Canyon to the south; Cold Springs Creek north to Camino Cielo on the eastern boundary; and Camino Cielo to the north. At the fire’s peak last week, more than 30,000 people were evacuated, with thousands more warned to be ready to go.
Three air tankers and nine helicopters are still attacking the fire from the air, with nearly 3,000 firefighters battling it on the ground. Firefighting costs have reached $17 million, officials said Thursday morning. To date, 29 firefighters have suffered mostly minor injuries but two suffered burns and a third smoke inhalation when they were trapped in a burning home.
The fire’s point of origin has been traced to an area of the Jesusita Trail near popular Inspiration Point. Investigators believe it was ignited by a power tool used to clear brush and are asking the public for help determining trail activities May 4 and 5. Anyone with information is urged to call the Santa Barbara County Tip Line at 805.686.5061 or e-mail sbctip@sbcfire.com.
National Weather Service forecasts call for temperatures in the 70s through Monday with breezy conditions and wind gusts up to 33 mph Thursday night. As a result of the drier conditions, officials pushed back their full containment projections to May 20.
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» Click here for photojournalist Isaac Hernandez’s pictorial chronicle of the Jesusita Fire, including an unofficial, house-by-house catalog of many streets in the burn area.
» If you have fire photos to share with Noozhawk, e-mail them to news@noozhawk.com.
» Click here for a related Noozhawk slide show from the first day of the Jesusita Fire.
» Click here for a Noozhawk slide show from the second day of the fire.
» Click here for a Noozhawk slide show from the third day.
» Click here for a Noozhawk slide show from the fourth day.
» Click here for a Noozhawk slide show from the fifth day.
» Click here for a Noozhawk slide show on the fire’s point of origin.
» Click here for a Noozhawk slide show from the aftermath.
» Click here for citizen reports from City2.0.
» Click here for additional information from sbparent.com.
— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com.
