Pot Growers' Cooking Fire Sets 136 Square Miles of California Ablaze

Touched off on Saturday, August 8, the La Brea fire has burned over 136 square miles of chaparral, grass and timber 21 miles east of Santa Maria, California, in Santa Barbara County.

The LaBrea Fire, August 9, 2009 (Photo by Jay C. Nichols courtesy Inciweb)

With 126 fire engines, 56 crews, 30 bulldozers, 59 water tenders, 12 helicopters and five fixed wing aircraft on the job, fire officials say the La Brea fire is 75 percent contained.

Tonight's focus will be on the upper end of Cottonwood Canyon just below Sierra Madre Ridge where dozers and crews will continue to work on improving fire lines and hope to conduct firing operations throughout the night, weather permitting, fire officials said.

Another fire forced the evacuation of several thousand people north of Santa Cruz on Thursday, but it is now under control and most residents were allowed to return home last night.

The Lockheed Fire burned 11 square miles but is now 80 percent contained, fire officials say. Major problems and concerns continue to be the weather, steep terrain and limited access to the fire's perimeter. Five people were injured.

Still, more than 2,100 firefighters made progress on the ground along the western and southern borders of the wildfire, helped by favorable weather.

Thirty-six fire crews are fighting the Lockheed Fire with 14 helicopters, 238 fire engines and 29 dozers at a cost of $12 million to date.

Evacuation orders for the 400 residents of the community of Swanton were lifted as of 8:00 pm tonight. The evacuation order for the Bonny Doon community area was lifted on Sunday, allowing some 2,200 residents to return to their homes after four nights in an emergency shelter. Residents living on Warnella Road remain on an evacuation order.

Many of the same people had to evacuate last year when a fire threatened the area. Several road closures are still in effect, but no homes were destroyed by the blaze.

The cause of this fire is still under investigation.

Santa Cruz's Lockheed Fire is one of 11 wildfires burning in the state, according to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who visited the Lockheed fire on Saturday to receive a briefing on the status of firefighting efforts statewide.

“My administration is doing all we can to ensure the state has the emergency response resources in place to respond quickly to the Lockheed fire and to fires that continue to burn throughout the state,” said the governor. “California has the best and bravest firefighters working on the front lines to protect our citizens and I am confident that they will beat back these fires like they have done in years past.”

A total of 117,150 acres, or 183 square miles, have burned across California since August 1 and currently there are 6,853 fire personnel battling the blazes.

In Yuba County, north of Sacramento, a fire that started Friday has burned more than 3,580 acres. On Saturday, the blaze jumped the Yuba River and moved farther from the Sierra Nevada foothills community of Dobbins, just three miles from the flames.

Two residences were destroyed and hundreds of structures are threatened as 1,598 firefighters work to control the blaze that is just 30 percent contained. Fifteen people have been injured.

About 120 residents who had fled the flames returned to their homes this afternoon, said CalFire spokesman Daniel Berlant. But a power house, transmisison lines and several communities still are threatened, and area residents are warned that they might have to evacuate again at a moment's notice.

Fire investigators have confirmed the initial Yuba fire was started by a bird flying into a powerline, but another fire in the area remains under investigation.

Copyright Environment News Service, ENS, 2009. All rights reserved.