Firefighters conducting burning operation to help battle Gifford Fire in SLO County
SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. - A strategic burning operation is now underway in San Luis Obispo County that is intended to help in the ongoing efforts to get the Gifford Fire under control.
Now in its 12th day, the fire has burned 122,065 acres in both San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and is the largest fire this year in California.
On Monday, firefighters began a new burning operation within the Garcia Wilderness, a 14,100 acre area located in the Los Padres National Forest, that has no recorded history of fire.
"We started that operation yesterday afternoon to bring operation and that was after a lot of planning and consideration," said Gifford Fire information officer Mark Ruggiero. "We had a lot of contingency lines put in, hand lines, dozer lines so we could even start that operation. Then we needed to get all the resources out there."
The operation began during daylight hours on Monday, continued on through the overnight hours, and remains ongoing through Tuesday.
"It's a constant all night, all day operation," said Ruggiero. "We have crews out there all night continuing this operation. The fire was pretty active last night, but we were able to continue the operation and I believe it's going to take two or three days to get through this. Hopefully, that with the weather and everything holding that will be successful and meet the main fire and that will definitely mitigate things immensely.
In the first few hours since the burning operation began, Ruggiero noted the crews are encouraged with the results.
"So far it's going well," said Ruggiero. "It's a very tedious and slow process to do it right because if you make a mistake, we could have fire in places we don't want to be. Of course, the intent is to use fire to fight fire and eventually with the burn out operation that we're doing and the contingencies is that it will meet the main fire and slow it down enough there to be able to control it better."
With additional fires being set during the burn operation, people throughout the Central Coast may notice an increase in the amount of smoke billowing up into the sky.
"You're going to see a lot of smoke," said Ruggiero. "You may see a glow at night. There's a lot of fire out there. This is a big fire and it's going to be that way for several more days at least."
The initial time frame for the burn operation was announced as 36 hours, but it may be extended depending on the overall success, weather conditions and other variables.
"These burning operations will continue as we come around to the northwest," said Scott Safechuck, Santa Barbara County Fire Department Public Information Officer. "But we're not out of the woods yet. We're hoping that the weather that's predicted works in our favor. We're kind of going into a a better predicted fire behavior for us, which allows us to control and fight the fire on our terms."
Safechuck added conditions on the southern end of the fire in Santa Barbara County continues to be in much better shape than the northern end in San Luis Obispo County.
"The south side of the fire is really looking good for us," said Safechuck. "Our efforts are really paying off. We're securing that line, making sure those hot spots that are near the line are getting mopped up and we're concentrating our efforts. The majority of our aerial support and firing operations are occurring here on the north side. We still have efforts in the Santa Barbara County area, especially as we get into the San Rafael Wilderness. That's still open line and we have hand crews in there that are putting in strong efforts to control the fire down there."
