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Zaca fire danger changes direction
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More from County NewsThe Zaca fire is still burning, but its most dangerous front is the northwest edge, far from Ventura County, officials said Friday.
The area near the Sisquoc River, in northern Santa Barbara County, is proving "really troublesome," Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper told the county Board of Supervisors during a special meeting Friday.
The eastern end of the fire, which was bearing down on the Ojai Valley until earlier this week, is now largely under control, Roper said.
Firefighters stopped the blaze before it could move into Matilija Canyon. If that line had not held, the wildfire could have consumed at least 100,000 acres in Ventura County, officials estimated.
Instead, only about 12,000 acres have burned in the county. By Friday evening, the Zaca fire had burned 236,236 acres and was 83 percent contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Highway 33 is closed at Wheeler Gorge, north of Ojai, and will remain closed until at least Sunday.
Homes west of the highway, from the Santa Barbara County line to Pine Mountain, are under a precautionary evacuation notice.
The fire started July 4 about 15 miles northeast of Buellton. Fire officials believe it was ignited by a metal grinding operation at a ranch.
There are about 2,467 people fighting the blaze, down from 3,200 at its peak.
State, federal and local agencies have spent about $101 million so far fighting the fire.
That includes a cost of about $50,000 to the Ventura County Fire Department, Roper said. Other county agencies, including the Sheriff's Department, have also spent some money, but there are no estimates yet on how much.
On Friday, the Board of Supervisors voted to declare a local emergency because of the fire and asked the state to reimburse the county for its firefighting costs. The federal government already bears most of the costs of fighting the fire.
The federal government has used some of its most advanced equipment on the Zaca fire, Roper said. NASA loaned an unmanned drone aircraft to map the fire, and the Forest Service sent its only DC-10 to drop massive quantities of water and fire-retardant chemicals.
Posted by ednemechek on August 25, 2007 at 9:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If the DC-10 Supertanker had been used at the start of these fires the fires would have been out in a day or two instead of weeks of months as is now the case. We can't continue protecting the profiteering interests of the Forest Services' "old boys' club" (which is certainly NOT keeping nature in her place). It is critically important to STOP THESE FIRES and save our homes, lives, and loved ones by using the DC-10 immediatly and CONTINUOUSLY! We must save our homes and families from the threat of U.S. Forest Service facilitated fire in this case by compelling the continuous use of the DC-10 by applying overwhelming public pressure on the Forest Service to do so. It's not accidental that Congressman Dana Rhorabacher of Huntington Beach, Ca. has condemned the U.S. Forest Service for failing to use the DC-10 in the past describing them as "the worst old boy network he's encountered in his career"!-and I say the Forest Service is certainly proving him right as they continue their foot-dragging on the DC-10 use issue. We as concerned citizens must force U.S. fire officials to protect us because they obviously will not do so on their own. We must act now and the DC-10 is the answer. Call our representatives everywhere -Ed Nemechek-760-246-8059. see:www.JBS.org (search: wildfire).(ednemechek@verizon.net)
Posted by Ventura22 on August 25, 2007 at 11:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The main reason they DON'T use the DC-10 so quickly is that it's very expensive, can only be flown and used at certain times, marginally effective and very risky to use! You've spent way too much time in front of a television watching modern marvels or extreme machines on the discovery channel. Obviously, yourself or the idiot congressman have no idea how forest fires behave, let alone how to fight them. This is another fine example of why so many congresspeople have no credibility with the majority of the public, or the professionals who actually DO the work! You need to educate yourself more before spouting rambling BS about how the forest service should do their job. If you want to give it a try, go work for them as they are always hiring. Fires are a natural part of that landscape, whether or not they are human-caused, it is made to burn and will!! Many plants up there depend on fire as a part of their reproductive cycle. Those who take the risk of building homes so close to this area should do so knowing full well that fires will occur. A waiver should be signed prior to issuing a building permit. They should accept this risk and stop expecting the government to spend so much money to protect so few homes. All the government should be expected to do is build and maintain adequate firebreaks at the forest boundaries to keep it out of the cities. There is a fine line between concerned citizens and ignorant fools; it has obviously been crossed in the last comment posting. Sad!
Posted by Ventura22 on August 25, 2007 at 11:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wait until they end-up crashing a DC-10 on a fire somewhere. The inherent problem with flying such an aircraft for this purpose is that it was not intended for that use. This factor has been proven over the years with other tanker crashes; modified aircraft being used to fight fires that were engineered for something else. It's a crapshoot each time one of those things launches on a firefighting mission. You end-up flying in hostile conditions, narrow canyons, smoke, temperature inversions, erratic winds, downdrafts.... Pretty much like flying in combat but worse. The bigger the plane, the more all of these factors affect it, and the more limitations to it's use and effectiveness. It's a high-stakes gamble to use the DC-10 on a fire. This is why they don't call on it unless it is as a last resort.
Posted by potatoebay on August 25, 2007 at 12:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ventura22 obviously has made some very good points. Like I said before, it's easy being an armchair fireman. Like being an armchair, monday morning coach. Ventura22 makes a heck of a lot more sense than ednemechek.
Posted by stave1 on August 25, 2007 at 10:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why????
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