Summer shed its fog layer in Santa Barbara in recent days as heat and humidity built along city streets and to a greater extent in the hills and interior valleys. On Wednesday, the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag and high heat warnings, predicting temperatures reaching 95-110 degrees and dry gusts of wind through Saturday night — all conditions that raise fire concerns from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo counties.
Illnesses brought on by heat can feel like dizziness or nausea at first, Public Health warns. Stay hydrated, limit exercise, and if you must work outdoors, take breaks in the shade. Do not leave children or pets in vehicles for any length of time, as temperatures can turn deadly in only minutes during the intense heat expected this week.
Incident commanders on the Gifford Fire have kept their eye on the weather, pushing to complete a line around the fire and suppress hot spots within. On Tuesday, containment reached 95 percent, where it remained Wednesday morning as firefighters succeeded in taming the fire’s edges everywhere but among the thick, old fuelbed in the Garcia Wilderness of San Luis Obispo County.
Several days of strategic back fires in the Garcia gave firefighters the upper hand in controlling the fire, which has not grown beyond 131,589 acres since August 17. Nearly 2,500 personnel remain on the fire from across California and the United States, including from small local fire departments, said Tony Occhipinti, a planning operations trainee with Incident Command.
The backfiring operation dug about 400 miles of dozer lines to make sure no fire escaped, Occhipinti said during a community update in Santa Margarita. In the coming days, the many remaining on the fire line are working on erosion and other repairs along fire suppression lines.
Infrared images from aircraft are identifying spots of heat in the interior of the Gifford, which crews are working to extinguish. In light of the expected Red Flag conditions, all crews are on suppression and repair, as well as poised to respond to any new fire.
All evacuation orders and warnings have been canceled in Santa Barbara County. Although highway crews are still working on repairs to State Route 166, including rock scaling of the cliff-face, fixing culverts, and replacing guardrails, the highway between Santa Maria and SR33 is open again. The work sometimes requires closure of one lane as rocks tumble from above, but the delays should be only minutes, said Kevin Drabinski with CalTrans.
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