Water Cannons Used to Fight Peat Bog Fire

A smoky and foul-smelling peat bog fire that contributed to one highway death and forced northern Santa Barbara County schools to keep children indoors has begun to subside after firefighters began blasting the smoldering earth with millions of gallons of water.

The fire is in the northeastern portion of Vandenberg Air Force Base, and base firefighters have been attacking it with 4 million gallons of water daily since Wednesday. The blaze was ignited 10 days ago when the so-called Harris fire scorched 11,000 acres near U.S. 101 in the north end of the county. That fire has long since been extinguished, but 65 acres of the 651-acre Barka Slough continue to burn.

“We were unable to let the children play on the playground until today,” said Chris Whitmore, superintendent of the Alamos School District. “Visibility was just zero around here on Tuesday.”

It was late Tuesday night that Donald Lee Thomas, 52, of Morro Bay died after his car struck a slow-moving truck on U.S. 101 near Buellton. The California Highway Patrol said dense smoke was a factor in Thomas’ death.

Air Force Master Sgt. Ty Foster said the water cannons appear to be working. While peat bog fires can burn for months, Foster said that isn’t an option at Vandenberg, with 19,000 people either living or working on the base and 150,000 nearby.

“A peat bog is like God’s natural compost pile,” Foster said. “Peat bogs are usually not in close proximity to a population, so firefighters often let them burn out. Vandenberg doesn’t have that option.”

Foster said the firefighters risk falling into a hot spot if they walk out onto the burned crust of the bog. Flooding the fire is considered the only effective option.

Doug Allard, director of the county’s air pollution control district, said complaints from the public have dropped considerably since the water cannons were turned on.

“People say it smells weird,” Allard said. “We’ve since found that’s very typical of these peat bog fires. I honestly never even knew we had a peat bog. When I heard it, I thought it was a joke or people were wrong. I’ve found out since that we have at least one.”