Santa Barbara’s Rey Fire nearly quadrupled in size overnight, growing from about 2,700 acres to more than 10,000. At the same time, containment estimates for the fire were cut in half, dropping from 20 percent yesterday to 10 percent this morning. While such numbers are stark, the good news is that the fire is growing to the north and the east, heading away from populated coastal areas and into the steep, forbidding peaks and ravines of the Los Padres National Forest and Santa Barbara’s backcountry.
Even so, Mike Eliason, spokesperson for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, warned that as temperatures rise and the winds pick up, Santa Barbara residents should brace themselves for ominous large plumes of smoke billowing over the horizon. “We got a ton of calls yesterday,” he said. “In the morning, when it’s still relatively cool, the fire hangs low. But in the afternoon, people can expect to see lots of smoke.” Eliason attributed the rapid rate of growth to historic low moisture levels in the back country because of the record-breaking drought. “It’s unprecedented,” he said.
Should the winds shift direction and push the fire back on itself, Eliason said, it would encounter brush and fuel that’s already burned. But if that shift were to happen at the very north-eastern point of the Rey Fire — landmarked by a place called Old Man Mountain — that might be cause for concern. In anticipation, he said, firefighters have been focusing their efforts on that area, dispatching hand crews, dozer brigades, helicopters, and winged air craft. That area, he noted, is located 60 miles from Goleta as the crow flies. The closest the fire has gotten to populated areas is by Sage Hill and the White Rock campground, where the fire originated. Eliason said the cause of the fire has yet to be confirmed, but that it appears it might have been caused by downed power lines at White Rock.
