Hot weather and pesky winds plagued firefighters and delayed their estimates for containment and control of the 35-acre Santa Lucia Fire near Lompoc.
Crews from multiple agencies were dispatched at about 1:40 p.m. Friday to the vegetation fire that was reported in the area of Santa Lucia Canyon Road and Klein Boulevard near the Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex and Vandenberg Village, according to Mike Eliason, spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
Air tankers and helicopters were also called to the scene as authorities issued evacuation orders for the southern section of Vandenberg Village and the prison employee housing area.
Within a few hours, firefighters had stopped the forward progress of the blaze and lifted evacuation orders.
Instead of fully surrounding the fire on Saturday morning, the incident commander revised the estimate for containment and control, Mike Eliason said Saturday morning.
He cited “stubbon fire activity in the interior of the fire” for the delay along with the hot weather and winds.
Containment was expected Saturday evening, instead of the morning, and full control now was expected by 6 p.m. Sunday, 24 hours later than estimated, Eliason said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.