The Alamo Fire burned for two weeks near the Twitchell Dam east of Santa Maria. On Thursday, CalFire reported firefighters have totally contained the blaze and will spend the next few weeks mopping up. The fire destroyed 45 square miles of oak woodland and one home.
UPDATE: 7/17/17 at 1 P.M.: Now at 98 percent containment as of Monday.
UPDATE: 7/15/17 at 7 P.M.: On Saturday, firefighters gained a percentage point in containment, upping it to 94 percent. County officials lifted the mandatory evacuation orders, click here for more.
UPDATE: 7/14/17 at 10 A.M.: The number of personnel assigned to the Alamo Fire has decreased as crews near 100 percent containment. One home and one outbuilding were lost in the fire.
UPDATE: 7/13/17 at 8:30 A.M.: The mandatory evacuation orders for Tepusquet Canyon have been downgraded to a warning. Fire has not grown and crews have a hold on most of the perimeter.
UPDATE: 7/12/17 at 6:30 P.M.: Firefighters have reached 70 percent containment, meaning most of the perimeter of the fire has been halted from moving outward to burn new acreage.
UPDATE: 7/11/17 at 9:30 P.M.: CalFire has updated the containment figure to 65 percent, with the same amount of acreage burning - about 45 square miles. 2,218 firefighters are now working on extinguishing the wildfire.
UPDATE: 7/10/17 at 6:30 P.M.: CalFire has updated the containment figure to 20 percent, with the same amount of acreage burning - about 45 square miles.
UPDATE: 7/10/17 at 8:30 A.M.: CalFire says the fire grew over night by a few square miles - to 28,926 acres burned, or 45 square miles. It's at 15 percent containment, and CalFire reports 1,664 personnel are actively working on the fire. One structure is confirmed as destroyed, with 133 threatened. Tepusquay Canyon is under mandatory evacuation orders.
UPDATE: 7/9/17 at 8:30 P.M.: CalFire says the fire is now at just under 24,000 acres and ten percent contained.
UPDATE: 7/9/17 at 7:30 A.M.: As of Sunday morning, CalFire says the fire is now at 24,000 and ten percent contained.
UPDATE 7/8/17 at 3 P.M.: CalFire updated the Alamo Fire incident webpage at 3:05 p.m., reporting the fire had grown to 19,000 acres and 10 percent containment.
UPDATE 7/8/17 at 10:15 A.M.: Over 1000 firefighters are battling the blaze, with more on the way. Santa Barbara County has expanded mandatory evacuation areas to include Tepusquet Rd, south of Blazing Saddle to Santa Maria Mesa Road and White Rock Lane and Colson Canyon. According to Santa Barbara Fire captain Dave Zaniboni, five helicopters and four air tankers are doing water drops.
Santa Barbara County said in an emailed update, "the fire jumped Oak Canyon overnight, and crews will spend today protecting Tepusquet Canyon where there is a community of approximately 100 homes. High heat and low humidity with winds from the northeast are expected to continue throughout the day.
UPDATE 7/8/17 at 6:20 A.M.: There will be a 7 a.m. briefing on the status of the fire. As of 8 p.m., it was at 3600 acres burned and 10 percent containment.
UPDATE 7/7/17 at 7 P.M.: Santa Barbara County has created an informational webpage on the Alamo Fire. Find it here.
UPDATE: 7/7/17 at 6 P.M.: The Red Cross is opening an evacuation center at the Minami Community Center, 600 W. Enos Drive in Santa Maria.
UPDATE 7/7/17 at 4:42 P.M.: Mandatory evacuation orders for Blazing Saddle Drive and White Rock Lane neighborhoods.
The fire is just ten percent contained at this hour, and Santa Barbara County has issued evacuation warnings for the Tepusquet Road/Blazing Saddle Drive/Colson Canyon/White Rock Lane area, according to Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesperson David Zaniboni. He says about 300 residents have been notified of the evacuation warnings via reverse 9-1-1 calls.
Hot, dry and windy weather conditions are fueling the fire, located northwest of the Twitchell Reservoir. San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Fire Departments are sending more resources and CalFire is reporting about 500 acres have burned so far since the fire started at 3:43 p.m. on Thursday. No homes are yet threatened.
The Alamo Fire spread from 500 acres in size to 3000 acres in the span of an hour on July 7.
