[Updated: Tue., May 19, 2026, 6:50pm]
A growing vegetation fire continues to blacken Santa Rosa Island, stretching northeast. By Tuesday evening, the fire had scorched 16,942 acres and was still 26 percent contained.
Due to steady winds and dry conditions on Monday, the fire remained active overnight. Officials confirmed on Tuesday morning that it burned through the island’s rare Torrey pines grove, one of only two places in the world where the trees grow naturally. The extent of the damage, however, is yet to be determined.
“Grasses on the island continue to be receptive to fire with the dry winds, low humidity, and warm days,” officials said in a Tuesday morning update (Inciweb). “The fire has moved through the Torrey Pines area on the east side of the island and continues to have a northward progression.”
The fire was first reported by an aircraft flying overhead on Friday morning, after a 67-year-old mariner crashed his sailboat into the rocks at Santa Rosa Island late Thursday night, the U.S. Coast Guard reported. The Coast Guard said that the sailor fired emergency flares to signal for help, which may have inadvertently started the fire. However, authorities said the “human-caused” outbreak is still “under investigation.”
The unidentified sailor spent the night stranded on the burning island, but was uninjured. A Coast Guard aircrew rescued him the next morning, several hours after the fire was first reported around 5 a.m. in a remote and rugged corner of the island. The boater was safely transported to awaiting medical personnel at Camarillo Airport.
It was not until Friday afternoon, around 3 p.m., that the first firefighting crews were boated out to the island. Inquiries to the fire information officer about this time gap were not returned by Tuesday afternoon.
A large effort is now underway to save the island’s historic structures, housing, campgrounds, and pier. By Monday, two historic structures had already been destroyed, 11 national park staff were evacuated, and the fire was encroaching on sensitive habitat for six rare and endangered plant species.
Three dozen firefighters were battling the blaze on Monday. Despite reported efforts to protect the rare Torrey pines, the grove was in the direct path of the fire. This unique species of pine tree — with its broad canopies and twisting branches — is critically endangered and has been a part of the island’s ecosystem for thousands of years. It faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
According to the National Park Service, there were more than 10,000 Torrey pines on Santa Rosa Island as of 2015, located on two sandstone bluffs on the island’s northeast corner. Firefighters were hoping to be able to drop water on the trees from helicopters, but heavy wind conditions did not allow for this — reportedly reaching up to 50 miles per hour on some parts of the island.
Additionally, new fires on the mainland, including one in Simi Valley, diverted potential resources away from Santa Rosa Island on Monday, according to officials.
On Tuesday morning, additional federal Wildland Fire Service personnel and their equipment were preparing to head to the island from the Ventura harbor, about 45 miles out from the Channel Islands. According to Inciweb, crews are focusing on defensible space preparation in the Main Ranch Complex and the Water Canyon area on the eastern side of the fire footprint, “recognizing the fire has potential to reach Cherry Canyon.” On the western side, one crew is working on the South Point Lighthouse area “to establish containment through direct suppression actions,” it said.
It said an “unmanned aircraft module” was being deployed for “visual reconnaissance of the fire’s activity and location across the steep and rugged terrain — including a visual inspection of the Torrey pines.”
Fire personnel will again be assessing the potential for water and limited retardant drops by air tankers on Tuesday. Slightly weaker winds are forecast but still strong on the ridges.
Santa Rosa Island remains closed to the public due to the wildfire. No day visitors, backpackers, campers, or boats will be allowed, with the closure expected to last at least through the week as the fire burns. It is the first large-scale wildfire to strike the island since the National Park Service took over management of the island in the 1980s.
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