The Lake Fire is “pretty much out” at the southern end of the fire, with containment lines established and some crews sent to help the North Zone effort.
Containment was reported at 38% Tuesday, but that’s likely much higher, said Garrett Huff, deputy chief of emergency services for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
“Usually they don’t change the line to black until they’re pretty confident,” he told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
He said the fire commanders are starting to release resources with “a lot of demobilization” Monday and Tuesday.
About 3,200 people were assigned to the fire as of Tuesday morning, already a few hundred below where it was at the peak.
That number will keep going down in the next few days, Huff said. Some crews are being sent home while others are being reassigned to other fires.
The Lake Fire, the largest wildfire in California so far this year, thus far has burned 38,653 acres.
The North Zone of the blaze is being managed by a federal incident command team, which is going to get relieved this week by another team.
Some hand crews are being dropped off by helicopter to access the Lake Fire in the northern areas because of the steep, remote terrain.
The South Zone is being managed by a state incident command team, which is planning to leave and then transition management to the county, Huff said.
Emergency Proclamation, Damage Reports
The Board of Supervisors ratified the proclamation of a local emergency for the fire on Tuesday.
Officials have been lifting evacuations and reopening roads in areas affected by the fire, although there are some restrictions still in effect. Closures are also in effect in Los Padres National Forest.
The county closed its call center at the Emergency Operations Center on Monday. Residents can call 2-1-1 or check the readysbc.org page for fire-related information from the county.
Officials encouraged residents to sign up for emergency alerts and report property damage or economic loss from the fire.
Damage reports will help the county advocate for state and federal grants, said Kelly Hubbard, Office of Emergency Management director.
- For farm or agricultural damages, visit the Agricultural Commissioners Disaster Resources or submit a report directly to USDA here.
- For private property and business owners, complete the Private Property & Business Disaster Damage Report Form.
Hubbard said the county has already requested WERT and BAER teams to evaluate the fire’s impact to local watersheds as well as flood risk.
WERT is Watershed Emergency Response Teams and BAER is Burned Area Emergency Response.
