Lake fire becomes second largest fire of California wildfire season

After burning for 2 days in a rugged area of ​​Santa Barbara County, the Lake Fire was the second largest wildfire of the season in California.

It began around 4 p.m. on Friday, July 5, near Zaca Lake within the Los Padres National Forest.

An evacuation order was issued late Saturday for a 5-mile stretch of Figueroa Mountain Road and the Sawmill Basin/Figueroa Campground area.

The map above shows the approximate fire perimeter as a black line and the evacuation zones in red. For further evacuation details and current updates, please visit Santa Barbara County Emergency Map.

The western fringe of the hearth was inside a mile of the previous Michael Jackson Neverland Ranch in addition to several distinguished wineries within the Foxen Gorge Area.

The cause is currently being investigated.

In 2007, the identical area was ravaged by the Zaca Fire, which was then the second largest wildfire in California history. It was began on July 4 by sparks from a grinder and was not fully contained until September 4, and embers continued to burn until the last days of October. The final tally was 240,207 acres (375 square miles). 43 people were injured fighting the hearth.

The largest fire in California within the 2024 season is Sites, which burned 19,195 acres of land in Colusa County last month.

There have been five wildfires burning over 10,000 acres within the state thus far this yr. At this time last yr, the biggest fire was 1,560 acres; all 4 of the 2023 fires burning over 10,000 acres began in August, in response to CalFire records.

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