The Gifford Fire burning in the hills east of Santa Maria has now grown to more than 82,000 acres, making it the largest wildfire in California so far this year. It has surpassed the size of last month’s Madre Fire by more than 1,500 acres.
Nearly 2,000 firefighters are currently battling the blaze in Los Padres National Forest, where steep terrain, dry vegetation and extreme weather conditions have made containment difficult. Crews are working in high temperatures and low humidity, using chainsaws, hand tools and bulldozers to slow the fire’s spread.
Cpt. Scott Safechuck, public information officer with Santa Barbara County Fire says the immediate concern is keeping the fire away from nearby communities.
“We have communities back in there and steeper drainages and canyons where fire can move around quite easily, especially if it's wind-driven,” Safechuck said.
One of the key areas of focus is southeast of the fire, where crews are working to keep the flames from entering the Cuyama Valley.
“There's a small town of Santa Barbara County residents that live out there, originally started as an oil town, and it just grew and established as a small community,” Safechuck said, “And we're trying to keep it out of that valley floor and those grasslands and keep it up on the south side of the fire there, which would be on the Cerro Madre Ridge.”
Evacuation warnings and orders remain in place for several parts of the region. Fire officials are urging residents in threatened areas to stay alert and be ready to leave if conditions worsen.
Evacuation information can be found on Santa Barbara County’s Emergency Services webpage, readySBC.org.
