The Lake Fire continued to rage out of control on Sunday as authorities issued the incident’s first evacuation order — for the upper Figueroa Mountain Road area.
Firefighters from Santa Barbara County and Los Padres National Forest responded to the incident near Zaca Lake just before 4 p.m. Friday, and the blaze quickly charred thousands of acres.
Authorities issued an evacuation order encompassing Figueroa Mountain Road from the Grass Mountain trailhead to the neighborhood within Sawmill Basin, including Tunnel Road and the Figueroa Campground.
People affected by this evacuation order area were told to leave immediately.
Later Sunday afternoon, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office issued a new evacuation warning for the areas north of Calzada Avenue, east of East Oak Trail Road, west of Happy Canyon, and south of the Sisquoc River due to the fire.
The blaze northwest of Los Olivos had blackened 16,452 acres as of Sunday evening, with 8% containment, according to CalFire.
The fire mostly stayed within its original footprint overnight, with some moderate growth, according to Rick Marinelli, operations section chief for the incident management team.
“Most of that growth was in the southeast corner, the Figueroa Mountain area,” Marinelli said.
Priorities for fire crews on Sunday included reinforcing containment lines along the southern edge of the fire, and keeping flames from spreading to communities to the south and southwest, he added.
“We expect the fuel bed to heat up and, of course, when that happens we start to see an increase in fire activity,” said Marc Peebles, public information officer for the California Incident Management Team 13.
In addition, they are developing plans to check the fire’s spread to the north and east, including the rugged San Rafael Wilderness.
Several large air tankers were making retardant drops throughout the day, and appeared to be targeting the eastern side of the fire.
On Sunday morning, officials described the fire as very active and challenging, according to emergency dispatch reports.
The evacuation warnings issued earlier remained in effect. Those include north of Zaca Lake Road, east of Foxen Canyon Road, and south of the Sisquoc River.
Road closures in the area include Happy Canyon Road at the Forest Service boundary, and Foxen Canyon Road at the Zaca Station Road and Alisos Canyon Road.
On Sunday, officials extended the Figueroa Mountain Road closure, which now starts 2 miles north of Highway 154. The closure previously was near Midland School.
The Red Cross opened a shelter at the Solvang Veterans Memorial Building, 1745 Mission Drive, for evacuees affected by the fire. Red Cross volunteers will provide evacuees safe refuge along with water, meals and snacks, and additional resources.
For more information, visit readysbc.org.
For shelter support, people can call 805.678.3073. For assistance with animal evacuations, call 805.698.0212.
On Sunday morning, a Complex Incident Management Team took operational control of the firefighting effort, a handoff to allow the initial fire crews and managers to get rest as the battle continues.
“A significant number of firefighting resources have been ordered for the incident, including hand-crews, engines, dozers, and fixed and rotor wing aircraft,” authorities said.
Weather is expected to continue to challenge efforts to corral the fire as the area experiences “high temperatures, drying vegetation, and little relief at night.”
“The National Weather Service has reported that “A heat wave this intense, this long, has not been experienced in this region in 20 years,’” according to InciWeb.
Due to significant smoke from the fire, Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and Air Pollution Control District officials issued an air quality watch on Saturday.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
Noozhawk Editor in Chief Tom Bolton contributed to this report.