Five days after it ignited, the Lake Fire burning near Los Olivos has grown to 28,987 acres and a firefighting force of 2,760 personnel.
The complexity of the incident lead commanders to create a second base camp.
The blaze started Friday afternoon on Santa Lucia Road near Zaca Lake and quickly grew as the area fell under an excessive heat warning.
Containment remained at 16% as crews continue to work to surround the blaze on Wednesday.
Away from the fire lines, changes will take place reflecting the complexity of the incident and capacity issues.
An influx of additional resources will lead to the opening of a second fire camp located at the Santa Maria Speedway, 1900 Hutton Road in Nipomo in southern San Luis Obispo County.
The original camp at the Santa Maria Elks/Unocal Event Center is overflowing with firefighting equipment and support facilities. Tents dot the landscape and sleeper trailers have been set up at the site.
Despite this change, the firefighting effort will continue under a unified command, involving U.S. Forest Service, Cal Fire and Santa Barbara County Fire, Lake Fire leaders said.
“We’re going to continue to fight this fire together. We’re going to continue to lead you guys through the fire together,” said the U.S. Forest Service’s Joshua Boehm, one of the incident commanders with Team 13.
“This on us should be seamless. We should not lose any efficiency and you guys should be doing your jobs like nothing ever happened in the camp,” said Anthony Stornetta, deputy fire chief of operations for the Santa Barbara County Fire.
In addition to the 2,485 personnel, resources assigned to the Lake Fire include 11 helicopters, 225 engines, 62 bulldozers, 39 water tenders and 70 hand crews.
Challenging Firefighting Conditions
On Wednesday morning, incident commanders emphasized firefighters should be mindful of safety.
“This is some pretty unforgiving ground,” said Boehm. “A couple of days ago, we had some serious injuries.”
Two firefighters reportedly had been injured this week, with one reportedly taken to a burn center. Others have dealt with poison oak, heat exhaustion and minor health issues.
Firefighters headed to the fire lines Wednesday were told to expect a change in the wind conditions.
Instead of coming from the north and pushing the fire south, winds generally will come from the west-southwest, which could change the smoke in the area.
Firefighters continue to cope with fine fuels with twice as much dry and tall grass in the area.
“It could be twice as much of that grass and it’s taller and it’s very receptive to ignition,” said Dan Michael, fire behavior trainee for the incident management team. “And that’s been the primary driver of this fire behavior.”
For a couple of days, the fire reliably has moved about 1 mile south, Michael added.
“Even though the wind direction has changed and it’s not northerly anymore, it’s still going to (move) south as its primarily driven by those fuels and the topography,” Michael added. “The exception to that is where suppression action is taken.”
For some areas, the wind direction will be favorable for firing operations since it would push flames into the already burned areas.
He reminded crews that might remain on the line beyond daytime that the fire has remained active at night.
On Monday, commanders had water-dropping helicopters work overnight to protect the Happy Canyon area, Stornetta told the county Board of Supervisors. That’s unusual, but this fire is “burning all night long,” he said.
An excessive heat warning is in effect through Saturday night for Figueroa Mountain and other interior mountain areas of Santa Barbara County, with 100-degree temperatures expected.
Evacuations and Road Closures for Lake Fire
The fire perimeter is about 8 miles from Los Olivos.
As of Wednesday, evacuation areas are in effect for remote communities and Los Padres National Forest areas including Figueroa Mountain Road and Happy Canyon.
Click here for an interactive map of evacuation order and warning areas in effect.
“Significant fire activity on the southeast side of the fire footprint has prompted additional evacuations and an increase in acreage,” Los Padres National Forest officials said Wednesday morning.
“Since the start of the Lake Fire, 1,500 people have been evacuated. There have been some firefighter injuries but they were not life threatening. Medical response has been quick and effective as firefighter safety remains the top priority.”
Highway 154 is not within the evacuation zone but officials advise people to use Highway 101 instead, to avoid delays due to the fire. There is one-way traffic control still in effect near Painted Cave Road for emergency repairs on the Santa Barbara side of Highway 154.
Road closures include:
- Happy Canyon Road at the Forest Service Boundary
- Foxen Canyon Road at the Zaca Station Road and Alisos Canyon Road
- Figueroa Mountain Road at Midland School.
Click here for a county road closure map.
The Santa Barbara County readysbc.org page has more information about evacuations, animal evacuations, and ag passes for access to agricultural lands within evacuation and road closure areas.
The Santa Barbara County Call Center is open daily until 7 p.m. for residents to get more information and resources about the Lake Fire, at 833.688.5551.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.