Firefighters Battle Time; Searing Heat May Return

The third straight day of cooler, more humid weather aided firefighters Saturday in their race to contain two massive Los Padres National Forest brush fires before a possible Monday encore of the blistering dry heat that helped spawn blazes across the West.

California’s largest fire, the Wheeler blaze that marched from Ojai to the edge of Carpinteria last week, was 57% contained by late Saturday after firefighters drew a line around 40 miles of its perimeter. More than 81,000 acres had been charred since Monday, the U.S. Forest Service said.

The 38,000-acre Las Pilitas fire in San Luis Obispo County was 40% contained and full containment was expected by tonight, fire officials said.

Cooler Temperatures

The return to a normal summertime weather pattern--which kept coastal areas shrouded in fog much of the day and limited temperatures to the moderate 80- to 90-degree range--played into the hands of firefighters.

“The weather has helped a lot ,” said Susan Mockenhaupt, a Forest Service spokeswoman.

But Mockenhaupt said weather forecasters warned fire officials that Monday could bring an end to the cool respite and a return to scorching conditions.

“We are fighting time,” she said. “We still have a lot of line to build.”

Across California, several smaller brush fires were doused, but firefighters elsewhere in the West reported that lightning strikes sparked new blazes.

Still, there were signs of optimism. At the Wheeler fire, 600 firefighters were allowed to return home, leaving 2,400 holding the line against the blaze.

There, crews were battling on the north and west fronts of the fire in largely wild, steep terrain. While the weather conditions were a blessing overall, they did hamper efforts somewhat. Attempts by helicopter crews to set backfires were impeded by low-lying fog that cut visibility and forced hand crews into the breach, Mockenhaupt said.

No homes were threatened by the uncontained portion of the Wheeler blaze, but local officials expressed concern about the fate of the forest’s watershed, the only source of water to the area. Hydrologists and flood-control workers pressed into charred areas as soon as the ground cooled.

Preliminary indications were that extensive reseeding would be required, Mockenhaupt said. Even with that, moderate to severe erosion of the forest area can be expected, she said.

Pleased With Change

At the Las Pilitas fire, officials were similarly pleased with the dampening effect the normal weather pattern had on the blaze.

Margaret Berrett of the California Department of Forestry said the marine layer that spread over San Luis Obispo County “really cooled things off.”

“Unfortunately, the marine layer forced smoke to the ground, and people began calling about it,” she said.

“We’ve been explaining and telling people they should be saying prayers that the marine layer’s there.”