ZACA FIRE News: 100,000 acres could be burned out

Zaca Fire to force Highway 133 closures, Backfires could double the size of the fire

The Zaca Fire is forcing closures on another highway, fire authorities said Wednesday. A schedule of the closures is still being developed, fire officials said.

Portions of Highway 33 at the eastern edge of Santa Barbara County will be closed intermittently so firefighters can set “burnout” fires and construct fire lines in the area, officials said.

The scheduled burns near Highway 33 are a result of the decision to intentionally start a series of fires around the Zaca Fire within a large part of the back country northeast of the Santa Ynez Valley.

The scheduled burns could take up to 10 days and add more than 100,000 acres of burned forest - doubling the current size of the fire - primarily in the rugged, remote and roadless Dick Smith Wilderness. The strategy is intended to help control the six-week-old blaze by depriving it of fuel.