Zaca Fire Now Contained, NOT Controlled!

The Zaca Fire was started on 4July by two ranch workers repairing a water line in a remote area of the Santa Ynez Valley. Sparks from a grinder got away from them and 240,207 acres and two months later, the fire is contained - encircled and not likely to expand. The photo above was taken in August during a flare-up. At 375 square miles, it is the second-largest fire in California fire-fighting history. Amazingly, the Zaca Fire burned in an area TOTALLY UNPOPULATED!

Imagine - in the country's most populous state, a fire burns for two months and chars 375 square miles (5.5 times the size of Washington, DC) and only burns one storage shed! Yes some hard-working firefighters were hurt, none too severly and no one died in the fire. Based on my earlier analogy relating to the size of the fire, at 375 square miles, it would equal an area of 15mi x 25 miles with a perimeter of eighty miles! Even if this were 'neighbor hood streets', it would take someone about nearly THREE HOURS to drive the perimeter! However, this area has the shape of an amoeba on acid - and is located in an area with 3,000' mountains.

However, even now, two weeks after "containment", the fire will not be "controlled" (completely out) until the rains finally arrive in our Mediterranean climate - maybe as early as the first half of October!

The two workers and the ranch they work for were charged with felonies regarding the fire's start. Best advice? Get that fire extinguisher -- and learn how to use it!