Los Padres National Forest

Firefighters gained ground on the Gifford Fire, which continues to burn along the eastern edge of California’s Central Coast. With cooler weather on the way and containment slowly improving, crews are pushing forward with strategic operations.

The Gifford Fire burning in the hills east of Santa Maria has now become California’s largest wildfire this year, surpassing the size of last month’s Madre Fire.

Animal evacuation sites are open across Santa Barbara County as the Gifford Fire continues to burn.

This week, the federal government announced plans to undo a rule that protects roadless areas in national forests — including more than 600,000 acres of Los Padres National Forest.

Central Coast environmentalists are reacting to one of President Donald Trump's recent Executive Orders that make it easier for commercial loggers to expand business nationwide.

Repairs of mostly forestland start this week in areas impacted by the over 38,000-acre Lake Fire in Santa Barbara County.

An active, fast-moving fire has burned more than 20,000 acres in Santa Barbara County since Friday, but putting out the Lake Fire is a challenge for response crews.

An active fire that started on July 5 near Zaca Lake in Santa Barbara County has now burned over 38,400 acres as of July 14, leading to evacuations in nearby areas.

The US Forest Service has canceled oil company Carbon California’s applications to drill and frack in the Sespe Oil Field, in Ventura County.

Last week the Chumash Fire Department in Santa Ynez was honored by tribal leadership and the U.S. Forest Service for their work during fire season. The department was established to train and prepare firefighters for working with the forest service.