Santa Lucia Lightning Complex Wildland Fire

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Santa Lucia Lightning Complex Wildland Fire

Summary

A lightning storm passed through the northeastern portion of Santa Barbara County early Friday morning igniting five (5) fires within Los Padres National Forest. The fires are located southeast of the intersection of Highway 166 and Tepusquet Road. The fires are burning in heavy chaparral, in rugged and inaccessible terrain which has hampered firefighting efforts. All of the fires described below have been consolidated into one incident, the "Santa Lucia Lightning Complex."

The Buckhorn Complex consists of three fires, totaling 150acres, burning in the Buckhorn Ridge area. The Owl Fire has burned 20 acres in the vicinity of Salsipuedes Canyon in the San Rafael Wilderness. The fire has been surrounded with fire retardant. The Manzanita Fire has burned 75 acres in the San Rafael Wilderness, southeast of the Owl Fire. No evacuations have been ordered. The fires do not currently threaten any structures.

Due to the fire emergency, all public entry into Los Padres National Forest is prohibited in the following area: The closure begins three miles north of Pine Canyon Fire Station on State Highway 166 at the point where the highway intersects the Los Padres National Forest boundary; then along the south side of State Highway 166 easterly to where it meets Sierra Madre Road (Forest Road 32S13); then southeasterly along the west side of Sierra Madre Road to Bates Canyon Road (Forest Road 11N01); then in a straight line to the southwest across the San Rafael Wilderness to and including Sluice Box Camp; then southwest along the east side of Horse Canyon Trail (Forest Trail 31W09) to where it intersects with the National Forest boundary; then west along the National Forest boundary back to its intersection with Highway 166 Sierra Madre Road (32S13) and Miranda Pine Campground will remain open. La Brea Canyon Road (11N04) and Miranda Pine Road (11N03) are closed.

Basic Information

Incident Type	Wildland Fire
Cause	Lightning
Date of Origin	Friday August 15th, 2008 aprox 07:00 AM
Location	Northern Santa Barbara Co.
Incident Commander	Dana D'andrea Usfs

Current Situation

Total Personnel	200
Size	245 acres
Fuels Involved	Heavy chaparral
Fire Behavior	Not available.
Significant Events	Not available.

Outlook

Planned Actions	Aircraft laid down a lot of fire retardant around the fires on Friday afternoon to aid ground firefighters. Two hotshot crews constructed a preliminary line around the Owl Fire during the night. Three more crews will be inserted this morning to reinforce the line and mop up. Crews will be spiked out for up to 72 hrs. Seven smokejumpers worked the Manzanita Fire overnight, but have not completed the preliminary line. Additional crews will be inserted today. Crews will be spiked out for up to 72 hrs. The Buckhorn Fire was unstaffed overnight. Crews will be ferried in this morning by helicopter. There are roads to the north and east of the fire to aid containment. The area to the west of the fire was part of a prescribed burning project in 2007 and this will aid containment on the west side.
Growth Potential	Not available.
Terrain Difficulty	Rugged terrain, inaccessible.
Remarks	The Los Padres National Forest is closed to all public entry in the general vicinity of the Lightning Complex Incident. For more information, contact the Fire Information Center at 805-961-5770.

Weather

Current Wind Conditions	3-8 mph W
Current Temperature	89 degrees
Current Humidity	15-30 %

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Saturday, August 16, 2008