Brush Fire Near Pyramid Reservoir Contained

A brush fire that consumed 276 acres near Pyramid Reservoir in the Los Padres National Forest was contained Monday evening and is expected to be extinguished by the end of the week.

The brush fire, apparently ignited Sunday morning by a spark from a campfire, did not threaten any structures, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Juanita Freel. But about 75 campers were evacuated Sunday from the Hard Luck Campground south of Gorman, and four firefighters suffered minor injuries in combatting the blaze, she said.

Forestry officials initially estimated the size of the fire to be 100 acres, but increased the estimate to 240 acres on Monday after they had time to fully map the burning area, Freel said. The total acreage jumped to 276 by Monday evening because firefighters purposely burned an area to the northwest of the fire, near Snowy Creek, as a firebreak, she said.

The number of people fighting the fire reached 509 early Monday morning but was down to 400 by Monday evening and was expected to drop further, Freel said. Airplane water tankers and helicopters equipped with sprayers assisted crews on the ground, she said, but bulldozers could not be used because the terrain was too rocky and the soil too loose.

The campfire that sparked the brush fire was built properly, and no arson investigation is under way, Freel said.