Zaca Fire contained Sunday

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

After raging for nearly two months and devastating 240,207 acres in Santa Barbara’s back country, the Zaca Fire is now fully contained, fire officials announced Sunday.
As firefighters continued to patrol fire lines and conduct rehabilitation efforts yesterday, an excessive heat warning kept fire and health officials alert for heat-related injuries.

“It’s miserable,” Santa Barbara County Fire Spokesman Eli Iskow said. “It’s horrible out on the fire lines. It makes things much, much worse.”
Iskow said around 35 firefighters have suffered from heat exhaustion or similar symptoms since the blaze started near Zaca Lake north of Los Olivos on July 4.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we drop another couple today,” Iskow said. “We hammer these guys about staying hydrated, but the kids will work ‘til they drop.”
The National Weather Service issued a heat warning for interior portions of Southern California, including the Santa Ynez Valley and lower mountain elevations, that lasted until 7 p.m. yesterday.
Weather officials expected the heat index, a measure of the temperature perceived by the human body, to reach 105 to 110 degrees in the Santa Ynez Valley and 100 to 107 degrees in the mountain regions yesterday.
Calling conditions “hot and possibly life-threatening,” they urged elderly and sick people to stay in a cool room and keep in contact with relatives and neighbors. Officials also warned against leaving children or pets in enclosed automobiles, even with the windows partially open.
Cooler temperatures should prevail this evening, according to the National Weather Service alert, and greater cooling is expected tomorrow.
Most of the firefighters assigned to the Zaca Fire will be heading home over the next few days as crews demobilize, Iskow said. The Live Oak camp on the southern edge of the fire is closed and the Richardson camp should follow suit today or tomorrow.
Fire officials warned the public that heavy equipment and firefighter activity will continue around the Zaca Fire as U.S. Forest Service Ranger districts take over the mop-up and patrol efforts.
Although Iskow said there have been no serious flare-ups, areas still smoldering within the fire lines may throw some smoke into the air.
“The interior islands will burn for weeks,” Iskow said. “We’ll continue to patrol those areas and kind of watch them, but we won’t put them out.”
Heavy equipment and hand crews will ensure that a 500-foot zone along the 130 miles of existing containment lines is secure, also chipping up brush and other vegetation cleared during the firefighting effort. Fire officials said rehabilitation along the southern edge of the fire, which has been contained for more than a week, is nearing completion.
The Zaca Fire Area Closure, covering most of the Los Padres National Forest, is still in effect, as are road closures on Happy Canyon and Figueroa Mountain roads and East Camino Cielo east of Gibraltar Road.
Fire officials warned that due to high temperatures and low fuel moisture, there is a high potential for any spark or flame to result in a large and quick-moving wildfire and urged the public to remain cautious and be aware of any fire usage restrictions.
To date, the Zaca Fire has resulted in 44 injuries and destroyed one outbuilding while costing more that $118 million to fight. Although most injuries were minor and heat-related, two people sustained serious injuries when a firefighting helicopter crashed during takeoff, a truck driver broke both legs after crashing on Figueroa Mountain, and a firefighter suffered a broken leg and other minor fractures after falling 30 feet in the Siquoc River area.
Criminal charges have been filed against two individuals and the company that owns the Bell Canyon ranch where the blaze began after sparks from a welding operation lit nearby brush just before noon on the Fourth of July.