Lake Fire burns more than 34,000 acres, making it largest blaze in California this year
The Lake Fire passed 34,000 acres burned Wednesday with more activity on the southeastern edge of the blaze in Santa Barbara County.
Unified Command reported 34,015 acres burned as of midday Wednesday night and 16% containment.
Los Padres National Forest officials reported three damaged recreation residences and one damaged outbuilding from the Lake Fire so far.
Four firefighters have been injured, some seriously, according to incident commanders. No civilian injuries have been reported, and no homes have been reported damaged or destroyed in the blaze.
More than 3,000 people are assigned to the firefight, which is about 500 more people than Tuesday. Unified Command is opening a second base camp in Nipomo, in addition to its existing camp in Santa Maria.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office reported that the fire has affected about 1,165 people in evacuation warning areas and 441 people in evacuation order areas.
Evacuation orders and warnings are in effect for remote communities and Los Padres National Forest areas, including Figueroa Mountain Road and Happy Canyon.
Check readysbc.org’s Lake Fire page for the most recent evacuation information. Click here for an interactive map of affected areas.
The southeastern portion of the fire has been the most active in recent days, as shown by a Unified Command progression map. Wednesday’s burn areas are shown in red in the map below.
“Tactical firing operations went well ahead of the fire to control fire spread,” officials said Wednesday night. “The firing operation on the southeastern edge of the fire perimeter went as fire behavior analysts planned. This firing operation will keep the fire from impacting communities south of the fire in Los Olivos.”
Lake Fire largest blaze in California this year
The Lake Fire is by far the largest wildfire burning in California so far this year, according to CalFire. It’s also the largest blaze Santa Barbara County has seen in awhile.
The average interval between large wildfires (10,000-plus acres) within Santa Barbara County is four years, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department dashboard.
The Lake Fire burns the Sedgwick Reserve area of the eastern Santa Ynez Valley on Wednesday. Ray Ford / Noozhawk photo
Before the Lake Fire, the most recent large wildfire in Santa Barbara County was the 2021 Alisal Fire, which blackened 16,953 acres burning from the Santa Ynez Mountains to the Gaviota coast.
The last time a Santa Barbara County fire topped 20,000 acres was in 2017; it happened two times.
The Alamo Fire off Highway 166 burned 22,867 acres in July 2017.
That’s the same year — and month — the Whittier Fire burned 18,291 acres, destroying several camps off Highway 154.
In December 2017, the Thomas Fire burned 281,350 acres and led to the deadly Montecito debris flows in January 2018.
Measuring by acreage alone, Thomas maintains the top spot for wildfires in Santa Barbara County followed by the 2007 Zaca Fire that blackened 240,350 acres.
A fire history map from Unified Command shows the active Lake Fire perimeter in red, the 1993 Marre Fire in light gray and the large 2007 Zaca Fire in gray.Courtesy photo
However, Thomas torched land in both Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, while Zaca remained solely in Santa Barbara County.
The third spot belongs to the Matilija Fire in September 1932, when 219,999 acres burned.
In fourth and fifth spots are the Wheeler #2 from July 1985 with 122,687 acres and Kelly Canyon at 114,745 in September 1922.
While sundowner winds often drive fires in the southern portion of Santa Barbara County, they did not push either the Zaca or Lake fires, according to County Fire officials.
The department’s fire history dashboard shows that June, July and August see the most fires, ranging from 56 to 58, although longtime residents know December has seen deadly blazes.
While the acreage sits smaller than many others on the list, one of the most devastating fires continues to be the Paint Fire from June 1990, when 641 structures burned across 4,425 acres.
California seeing more land burned in this year’s wildfires
Gov. Gavin Newsom said wildfires have burned much more land this year compared with the same time last year.
After several years of lower-than-average amounts of acreage burned, “this year portends some more challenges,” Newsom said at a wildfire preparedness and response press conference Wednesday.
Heavy rains led to lots of grass and other light vegetation, which fuel brush fires, he said.
California has seen 3,543 wildfires that burned 207,415 acres as of Wednesday morning, CalFire Director Joe Tyler said.
Newsom and the other speakers didn’t mention the Lake Fire, the largest fire this year.
The event was livestreamed from a fire aviation base in Sacramento County with night-flying helicopters and other fleet aircraft in the background.
California has the largest civilian fire suppression fleet in the world, Newsom said, and “no mutual aid is as efficient and effective and coordinated.”
Noozhawk North County Editor Janene Scully contributed reporting to this story.
This story was originally published July 11, 2024 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Lake Fire burns more than 34,000 acres, making it largest blaze in California this year."
