California's Madre Fire grows to over 70,000 acres, expected to remain 'extreme'
A California wildfire that started burning Wednesday, July 2, has quickly grown to become the largest in the state as of Friday evening, July 4.
Officials expect the fire to rage for at least the next three days, according to CalFire.
"Fire behavior is expected to be extreme, characterized by rapid uphill runs and wind-driven head fire spread. The presence of dry, cured annual grasses will support high rates of spread with intense flame lengths. Alignment of slope and wind will further exacerbate fire behavior, creating challenging suppression condition," the state's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a release.
The Madre Fire is burning in a remote area of central California, north of Santa Barbara and west of Bakersfield, according to Cal Fire. It quickly consumed roughly 35,000 acres overnight, moving east-northeast onto the Carrizo Plain and burning through parts of Los Padres National Park.
As of Friday evening, the Madre Fire was 10% contained and had already burned about 70,800 acres of land, causing an estimated $20 million in damage, according to Paste BN's wildfire data tracker.
It is mostly burning in areas of grass, chaparral and oak woodland. The nearby Carrizo Plain National Monument was closed to pubic access on Thursday to allow firefighters to work freely.
Thick smoke has engulfed areas around the fire along the southern rim of the mainly agricultural Central Valley and was seen drifting south-southeastward over the Channel Islands. That means light to moderate smoke could appear over the Los Angeles to San Diego metro area.
As of Friday afternoon, 608 personnel, four helicopters, 46 fire engines and seven bulldozers had been assigned to fight the fire. In addition, seven firefighting air tankers were flying fire suppression missions over the area as conditions allowed according to the federal Incident Information System.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
See California wildfire map: Madre Fire
Madre Fire evacuation orders
The following areas are under evacuation orders, meaning there is an immediate threat to life and a lawful order in place to leave immediately, according to Cal Fire:
- LPF-017
- SLC-226
- SLC-240
- SLC-263
- SLC-264
- SLC-265
- SLC-298
- SLC-299
- SLC-300
- SLC-312
- SLC-313
- SLC-337
- SLC-338
- SLC-339
Madre Fire evacuation warnings
The following areas are under evacuation warnings, meaning there is a potential threat to life and/or property and those who require additional time to evacuate and those pets and livestock should leave now, according to Cal Fire:
- SLC-225
- SLC-239
- SLC-266
- SLC-301
- SLC-359
- SLC-365
- SLC-366
- SLC-367