As of 8 a.m on Monday, July 7, the Los Padres National Forest Ranger District’s information site Inciweb reports that the Gap Fire is 35 percent contained, and has burned 9,577 acres--down 347 acres since the last report due to updated mapping. The number of destroyed structures remains the same: four outbuildings such as sheds.
The fire passed under electrical lines yesterday evening, causing outages in Goleta and Santa Barbara.
No additional areas have been given evacuation warnings or orders.
Mature chapparal, up to 20 feet tall, is still the fire’s fuel of choice as it continues to burn at about the same rate at elevations above 1,500 feet. A marine inversion layer dampened its activity to some extent in most areas below that elevation, according to Inciweb.
There was increased activity between Ellwood Canyon and Tecolote Canyon.
The fire continues to progress west toward Tecolote Canyon and northwest toward West Camino Cielo Road, and toward Old San Marcos Pass Road where the Trout Club, Kinevan Tract, Haney Tract, and Windemere Ranch are. Winds are expected to be from the east during the day, but come from the north in the late afternoon and evening.
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If you feel so moved, please take a moment to go to
http://www.thanksgapfirefighters.com
and submit a message of gratitude for the firefighters who have been working this fire.
Thanks.
Bargs (anonymous profile)
July 7, 2008 at 10:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Fine work by the Independent on the fire. Miles ahead of the fire-as-spectacle presentations of other media sources, and the two-days-late web info from the county. Great to have Ray Ford's reports -- he knows the terrain and the people on the scene like nobody else. And after we were evacuated, as we sat in our temporary evacuation quarters we had a good laugh over Jerry Roberts's vividly described drugstore scene.
Re maps: One of the best, showing fire fronts and hotspots as well as firebreak/containment lines, appeared in Ray's reports for a couple of days. This morning, however, I could only see it behind commander Warren Bennett, in a photo at the daily briefing. Hope you can resume regular posting of this map soon.
billp111 (anonymous profile)
July 7, 2008 at 12:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The 'black lines' are what we are interested in...
GoletaResident (anonymous profile)
July 7, 2008 at 12:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hurrah for June gloom!
strainoff (anonymous profile)
July 7, 2008 at 1:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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