Hunter Calls Fire ‘Honest Mistake’ : Outdoors: Remorseful Santa Ynez man says he tried but failed to stomp out flames caused by a cigarette. The Los Padres National Forest blaze jumped containment lines and has burned at least 34,500 acres.

A deer hunter who started the Los Padres National Forest fire with a cigarette said in an interview published Saturday that it was an “honest mistake” he deeply regrets.

“I am very upset. I have feelings of regret, grief, knowing it was a mistake,” Scott Jouett, 22, of Santa Ynez said. “I am very sorry for having put so many people at risk. . . . I am very thankful that it hasn’t burnt any homes. I am thankful that no one has been seriously injured.”

Wind gusts blew forest fire out of containment lines early Saturday in the Los Padres National Forest north of Santa Barbara, forcing about 15 firefighters to take refuge in their trucks as the flames headed toward a sparsely settled area. It has burned at least 34,500 acres so far.

The firefighters, among more than 3,000 assigned to battle the blaze, were on a containment line patrol on Figueroa Mountain Road at 2 a.m. when a wind change sent flames surging up a canyon and to the road’s edge, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Peggi Lawrence.

The firefighters scrambled inside four engines and waited out the flames until they could drive out of the area, Lawrence said. No one was hurt, but some plastic equipment on the engines melted, she said.

As the week-old blaze headed northwest, residents of ranches and cabins in the area were advised to be alert. A handful of people already had left a resort at Zaca Lake and a home in the Figueroa Mountain area, said Forest Service spokesman Gerry Little.

Before Saturday morning’s blowout, the blaze had been about 60% contained by fire lines.

Fire authorities had refused to identify the hunter they say started the fire Sept. 25 with a cigarette. Jouett agreed to identify himself and speak with the Santa Barbara News-Press to set the record straight.

Jouett, an experienced hunter, said he and a companion were “completely taken by surprise” by the fire, which they tried and failed to stomp out, and then immediately reported to authorities.

Jouett said he met his friend on top of Figueroa Mountain at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 25 and they headed down the mountain. Between 1 and 2 p.m. a buck jumped in front of them, and his friend shot and killed it, he said.

The buck was tagged and validated by authorities before the fire erupted, he said.

The two dressed the animal. Jouett’s knife became dull, so he went to his pack to change knives. There, he found a cigarette, he said.

“I relaxed a few moments,” he said. “I then walked back over to the deer horns, picked them up and went back to my pack to sit down and finish my cigarette. My friend was continuing to dress the deer nearby.

“Moments later I saw a flame ignite where the deer horns had been. I was completely taken by surprise,” he said. “I immediately ran to jump on it and try to stop it. I was jumping on it with my feet trying to stomp it out but every step seemed to fuel the fire.

“It grew at such a rapid rate and the radiant heat from the fire was unbearable. My friend and I decided we had to get away. . . . The fire exploded into a tornado-type swirl of wind. We were very lucky to get out.”

The pair first met a U.S. Forest Service fire engine heading to the fire. Jouett said he told occupants of a second vehicle, members of a Santa Barbara County fire crew, that he had accidentally started the fire. He later volunteered a written statement about the blaze, he said.

Jouett said he asked the Forest Service if he could deliver supplies or help out in any way and was told it was not necessary.

“I felt a lot of remorse during the fire, and not being able to do anything about it has been frustrating,” he said.

Ten firefighters have been slightly injured battling the blaze.