The Madre Fire burning northeast of Santa Maria continues to grow slowly as firefighters increased containment to 35% and said Highway 166 might reopen as soon as Tuesday.
The 80,603-acre fire sparked Wednesday afternoon north of Highway 166, which remained closed Monday. The fire is about 40 miles northeast of Santa Maria and 20 miles northwest of Cuyama.
“Highway 166 will remain closed to provide for the safety and well-being of the public, the community and emergency personnel while the building of fire control lines continues,” U.S. Forest Service spokesman Andrew Madsen said midday Monday.
However, during a virtual community meeting Monday evening, John Chester, Madre Fire operations section chief with Incident Management Team-8, said they continue working with representatives of Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office to assess reopening.
He said it’s likely the two-lane highway would reopen as soon as Tuesday, but he couldn’t pinpoint whether the closure would be lifted in the morning or evening.
At the fire site, crews continue to strengthen containment lines throughout the northwest and north perimeters, and complete mop-up chores, according to an update federal officials provided Monday evening.
Progress remains steady on the northeast and southwest perimeters, with bulldozer operations working to reinforce lines, federal officials said.
Challenging terrain on the southwest side means hand crews are creating lines in areas that are inaccessible for bulldozers.
Dozers and crews continue working throughout the south side of the fire to make sure Highway166 is protected, federal fire representatives said.
They are bracing for a spate of hot and windy conditions in the coming days, fire officials said Monday.
The firefighting force has grown to 1,573 people, including 35 hand crews. Other resources include 84 engines, 31 water tenders and 19 dozers.
A unified command made up of the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and Cal Fire continued to lead the firefighting efforts.
In San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, all evacuation warnings and orders remain in effect, federal officials said Monday. Some Kern County orders have been lifted.
All Bureau of Land Management sites in the Carrizo Plain National Monument are closed to public access because of the firefighting effort. About 50% of the fire area sits in the Carrizo Plain area.
No damage occurred to an area known as Painted Rock, a BLM official said Monday.
A quick assessment suggested some possible minimal damage to a couple of campgrounds and a trail, but the Goodwin Education Center remains undamaged, a BLM official reported.