Second Fire Breaks Out In Santa Barbara County

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Second Fire Breaks Out In Santa Barbara County

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A wildfire broke out Monday afternoon near Beattie Park in southeast Lompoc, scorching 300 acres and leaving a massive plume of dark smoke in the sky as it spread quickly over the hills but away from town, according to fire officials.

Late in the afternoon, the fire jumped Highway 1, forcing the evacuation of livestock and closure of the road between highways 101 and 246.

Early in the evening, the fire slowed because of lower temperatures and increased humidity, said Russ Sechler of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

No residents were evacuated, although county sheriff's deputies alerted people along Jalama Road to be prepared to leave. Day-use visitors at Jalama Beach County Park, at the end of the winding, dead-end road, were asked to leave the park.

By Monday evening, one minor injury to a firefighter had been reported, and the cause of the fire remained undetermined.

Shortly after the fire began about 1:15 p.m., six engine crews arrived at a staging area near Lompoc Evergreen Cemetery.

About 100 firefighters responded from the Santa Barbara County, Lompoc city, Vandenberg Air Force Base and Orcutt fire departments, said Lompoc Fire Battalion Chief Stan Hart.

Resources were diverted from the Zaca Fire to the Lompoc fire, Sechler said.

Residents near the fire around Hawthorne Avenue and Clemens Way came out to watch five airplanes and several helicopters dump water and retardant over the hills above their homes.

“I looked outside. There was smoke, so I walked outside and I thought, ‘there's a fire,' ” said Kathleen Cortopassi, who lives on Clemens Way. “And then a woman said, ‘I just called 9-1-1'.”

An easterly wind seemed to be driving the fire away from the homes and into the hills.

“I'm not concerned,” said Hawthorne Street resident Heather Robertson, who watched flames on the nearby hillside.

“The wind is in the right direction.”

Cortopassi, who was among many in town taking photographs of the fire, was also not very concerned.

“I think if the wind were to turn in a different direction, we would all be a little bit nervous,” she said.

Winemakers and owners of vineyards near Lompoc were keeping a watchful eye, but were not overly worried, as the blaze continued to burn on both sides of Highway 1.

Steve Fennell, winemaker and general manager of Sanford Winery on the western end of Santa Rosa Road, was on the property Monday afternoon, and said things “look pretty good. I don't think it will be a threat for us.”

Sanford Winery vineyards and tasting room are about six miles east from Highway 1, he said, and just east of the five-mile evacuation warning zone.

Crews fighting the fire “got a good jump on things,'' he added.

Sanford's western-most vineyard is the La Rinconada site, which is planted in 106 acres of pinot noir and chardonnay grapes, he said.

Rebecca Work, who with her husband Peter owns Ampelos Cellars, said she could see the smoke from her home along Highway 246, but that the fire was well west of the Ampelos Vineyard site, which is at the eastern edge of the Santa Rita Hills wine region.

Candace Lunsford, park ranger at Jalama Beach County Park, said smoke was visible from the fire, which was the big topic of conversation among park visitors.

Park officials have spoken with public safety officials by phone, she said, and day-use visitors were being evacuated Monday evening.

Campers were not being ordered to leave, she said.

Fire officials said Monday afternoon that they were hoping campers would stay put, to keep traffic on Jalama road to a minimum.

Lunsford estimated there were about 300 people at the park.

Neil Nisperos can be reached at 737-1059 or nnisperos@santa

mariatimes.com. News editor Laurie Jervis and Senior Staff Writer Malia Spencer

contributed to this report.

August 21, 2007