Fire officials shut down more land

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Fire officials expanded emergency closures to all national forest lands to the south of the quick-moving Zaca Fire yesterday evening, shutting down access to more than 610,000 acres of land, authorities said.
National forest lands from Highway 166 on the north to Highway 33 in Ventura County on the south, encompassing the San Rafael, Dick Smith and Matilija Wilderness areas, will remain closed until further notice, fire officials said.

“This is a dangerous fire that is capable of advancing several miles in a matter of hours,” Forest Supervisor Ken Heffner said in a statement. “We are fighting the fire aggressively, but it may continue to spread southeastward.”
More than 28,300 acres in the Santa Barbara backcountry have burned as of yesterday evening as high temperatures and erratic winds continue to nourish flames on the northeast and southeast edges of the Zaca Fire, authorities said.
Fire officials expect the flames to continue to expand into the San Rafael Wilderness and possibly enter the Dick Smith Wilderness soon, U.S. Forest Service Fire Spokesman Eric Neitzel said, which would present an even greater challenge to the firefighting effort.
“It’s so rugged and there is so much fuel in there that hasn’t burned for so long,” Neitzel said.
The Dick Smith Wilderness is a 67,800-acre swath of extremely rugged land about 12 miles from Santa Barbara, with terrain ranging from chaparral brush and massive sandstone rock formations to mixed conifer forests.
Yesterday, flames continued to burn in a canyon below McKinley Ridge, Neitzel said, the focus of numerous air attacks and lots of hand crews. Fire officials hope those efforts and a bulldozer line will prevent the fire from breaching the ridge.
“If it comes over that ridge, we could have some evacuation issues,” Neitzel said.
An evacuation order for residents of Peachtree Canyon and areas within the Los Padres National Forest is still in effect. An evacuation warning is also in place for the following areas: east of Figueroa Road, north of Roblar Avenue, east of Mora Avenue, north of Baseline Avenue and west of the Los Padres National Forest boundary, including Tunnel Ranch, Rancho De Los Vistadores and Sedgwick Ranch.