The fire that started on July 8 has burned 16 residences, damaged one residence and destroyed 30 outbuildings, according to incident reports. The slope that the fire is primarily burning on is comprised of oak trees and brush that have not burned since the Refugio Fire in 1955.

“Over the last several years these fuels have been stressed by the exceptional drought conditions and a high percentage of the fuel bed is dead. The combination of old, dry fuels with a newly cured heavy grass crop contributed to the rapid growth of this fire. Large, old oak trees are continuing to burn well after the fire has past, leaving hazardous snags along highways and firelines,” officials wrote. 

Weak high pressure will remain over the fire area for the next several days which will allow the weather pattern to be dominated by marine influences including fog and low clouds at night and early morning over lower and middle elevations of the fire while the higher terrain will remain clear.

Because of the reduced threat and improving conditions, the changes listed below are effective immediately:

• Calle Real north to West Camino Cielo, from Winchester Canyon Road on the east, to El Capitan Ranch Road on the west. This includes all roads and trails within the area of the order

The following area remains in an Evacuation Warning:

• Cachuma Village

The following road closure remains in place:

• West Camino Cielo, from Winchester Gun Club on the east side, to Refugio Road on the west side.

Wagon Wheel, Winchester Commons and Langlo Ranch Road are not in the Evacuation Warning area.

Fire restrictions have been implemented and a Forest Closure Order is in effect in the area of the fire. For more specific information go to Los Padres Forest website Alerts and Notices or call the Los Padres National Forest at (805) 968-6640.

Please be aware that firefighters and fire equipment are working in the area. Drive with caution.

The Whittier Fire will continue to smolder for some time. These “smokers” are well inside the perimeter of the burn and do not pose a threat to the fireline.

Area residents who need assistance returning large animals to their properties are requested to call the Animal Services Hotline: (805) 681-4332.

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Looking north from Santa Ynez Peak at 5:53 a.m. PDT July 10, 2017. Photo by WildfireToday.com

Whittier Fire Grows to more than 10,000 acres, weather in firefighters favor

SYV Star Staff Report

The Whittier Fire has grown to 10,823 acres as of 8 a.m. Monday morning, however cloud cover, higher humidity and lower temperatures has firefighters hopeful for more containment soon. Current containment holds at five percent.

“The crews are attaching directly on the edges where terrain allows, as it is very difficult to navigate in some areas. We have five helicopters dropping water and fire retardant and air tankers available if necessary,” said Cpt. Dave Zaniboni.

Highway 154 will remain closed from Highway 246 on the Santa Ynez size to Foothill Road on the Santa Barbara side. Evacuation warnings and orders are still in effect and there are structure defenses in place on the south side of the fire near western Goleta, Zaniboni added.

3-D map of the Whittier Fire showing the perimeter acquired from an aircraft at 10:30 p.m. PDT July 9, 2017.
Photo by WildfireToday.com

The brush fire that broke out near Camp Whittier and Lake Cachuma Saturday afternoon around 2 p.m. was originally thought to have been ignited by a vehicle fire, but those reports are unconfirmed, according to fire officials.

All campers and staff at Camp Whittier, Circle V Ranch Camp and Rancho Alegre were safely evacuated, even after more than 80 children and staff from Circle V were trapped for a several hours. A Chumash Casino bus came and took the children to safety at Old Mission Santa Ines after rescuers and fire crews could get to them.  More than 20 structures have burned as reports of only the dining hall and one cabin at Rancho Alegre still stood. Two additional vehicles were destroyed including a police vehicle, according to eye witnesses. To see footage of the fire log onto our social media site such as Facebook to see live streaming video.

Authorities said those in the warning areas should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice with family members, pets, important documents and irreplaceable items.

Anyone with special needs and large animals should be evacuated immediately, they added.

Evacuation shelters have been opened at San Marcos High School, 4750 Hollister Ave. in Santa Barbara, and at Santa Ynez School, 3325 Pine St. in Santa Ynez.

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The Alamo Fire exploded to 19,000 acres Saturday afternoon after it jumped containment lines again, and burned toward the Tepusquet Canyon area east of Santa Maria.

Aircraft and hundreds of firefighters battled the fast-moving vegetation fire, which has burned insatiably since Friday morning, when it was reportedly at 175 acres. However, some members of the firefighting force, including most aircraft, were diverted Saturday afternoon to the Whittier Fire burning near Lake Cachuma.

“This is very very steep rugged mountain terrain,” Fire Inspector Ryan DiGuilio from Santa Barbara City Fire Department said, while referring to a map. “There’s no roads  in any of these areas here so it’s going to make firefighting very difficult in the sense that there’s going to be a lot of hand crews doing hand line construction to get in here. It’s a lot of hiking up steep terrain, dangerous hot work.”

Mandatory evacuations were ordered for Tepusquet Road from Blazing Saddles Drive to Santa Maria Mesa Road, Blazing Saddle Drive and White Rock Lane, plus Colson Canyon, Pine Canyon, Buckhorn Ridge, and White Rock Road, as the fire moved south.

About 200 homes are within the evacuation area, according to Cal Fire San Luis Obispo.

The fire was reportedly 10 percent contained as of 3 p.m. Saturday.

Calfire and the Santa Barbara County Fire Department are handling the blaze, which started in San Luis Obispo County near Twitchell Reservoir on Thursday.

The firefighting force reached 1,000 personnel as of early Saturday afternoon and was expected to grow by Sunday with newcomers to be assigned to various segments of the firefighting line.

“It’s quite a planning and strategy task to get all these folks on the same page doing the same thing with the fire progressing, with the weather changing,” DiGuilio said. “It’s a lot of moving pieces of the puzzle.”

A unified command team of Cal Fire and Santa Barbara County Fire has led the battle, but an incident management team from Cal Fire is expected to take over Sunday.

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The American Red Cross opened an evacuation center at the Minami Community Center at 600 W. Enos Drive in Santa Maria.

The Santa Maria Elks/Unocal Event Center at 4040 Highway 101 was designated as the shelter for evacuated large animals, while the Santa Maria Animal Shelter, 548 W. Foster Road, was available to house small animals, Santa Barbara County Animal Services officials announced.

This weekend, the rodeo grounds hosted the California Bridle Horse Association, which intended to finish its activity by Saturday night and leave Sunday, in time for the anticipated growth of the fire camp.

“They’ve got as much as they need right now,” said Tina Tonascia, chief operations officer for the Elks Rodeo organization. “As they need more, we’re clearing it. Everybody’s working together as a team. It’s been great.”

Meanwhile, they expected more evacuated animals could show up as the fire grew Saturday.

“We’re prepared,” added Stacy Silva from Santa Barbara County Animal Services.

“The volunteers have gotten the pens ready. The troughs are filled with water. The feed buckets are here. Everything’s here. We’re ready,” Tonascia said.

“We’ll take in those babies and take good care of them. We’ll treat them like they’re ours,” she added.

Small animals, essentially dogs and cats, can be taken to the Santa Maria Animal Center.

“It seems to be a steady flow of small animals coming in today,” Silva said.

The Santa Maria Valley Humane Society helped by taking in several shelter dogs to free up space for the evacuated animals, Silva said.

A disaster trailer also is set up to provide crates for those needing to evacuate, Silva added.

Those with large and small animals were urged not to wait until the last minute.

“Early evacuation for your large animals is key,” Silva said. “Don’t wait. As soon as you get an evacuation warning or if you’re concerned you’re going get an evacuation warning, either bring them to the Elks/Unocal Event Center or call us so we can arrange transport.”

Volunteers from the San Luis Obispo County Horse Emergency Evacuation Team were ready to assist those evacuating large animals from the fire zone.

Additionally, evacuated animals previously registered for the Santa Barbara County Fair Junior Livestock Auction next week were allowed to take them to the fairgrounds in Santa Maria on Friday, two days earlier than the planned arrival.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation.

The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and the County Air Pollution Control District issued an air quality watch for North County areas through the weekend due to smoke from the fire.

Ash from the fire fell throughout North County, coating vehicles and anything else sitting outside.

Highway 166 has been closed since the fire broke out Thursday afternoon along the roadway, east of Highway 101. As of Saturday afternoon, Highway 166 was closed between Highway 101 to Perkins Road in Cuyama.

Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.

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Children at Dunn School learn to swim and keep cool during the heat

The Santa Ynez Valley is expected to be hot and breezy on Friday, with a high around 100 degrees, and Saturday, before dropping down into the 80s on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

There is also a Red Flag warning in effect for the Santa Barbara County South Coast and Mountains (zones CAZ252, CAZ239) in effect from 6 p.m. Thursday  to 10 a.m. Saturday July 8. 

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851 AM PDT TUE OCT 18 2016

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A second vegetation fire named the Washington Fire broke out on the north side of Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, according to fire officials.

The fire started Thursday afternoon around 2 p.m, and is unrelated to the Canyon Fire burning on the south end of the base. The fire started due to downed power lines, said base officials.

They are asking personnel in the area to stay away and they evacuated several buildings, however no houses are currently threatened.

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* WINDS...NORTH 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 55 MPH.

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