Tactical firing operations used to help contain Lake Fire

UPDATE (4:12 p.m.) - Evacuation orders have been canceled for some areas Saturday, including east of Figueroa Mountain Road, north of Highway 154, west of Calzada Ave/W Oak Trail Rd and south of Woodstock Rd.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office reminds people to be cautious when returning back home as conditions can change.
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ORIGINAL STORY: Along the south side of the fire in Santa Ynez, Ashley Merchant normally rides her horses daily, but she says the smoke makes it nearly impossible to train them.

“It’s just a setback more than anything,” Merchant said.

Merchant trains young horses for a living.

“This is their prime year to learn their education. They just must keep learning,” Merchant said.

“The smoke has been unfortunate for a lot of us, especially training horses so we have to go slow with them and with yourself,” Merchant said.

On the south side of the fire facing the Santa Ynez Valley, firefighters are working to be proactive.

Firefighters are using drop torches.

Captain Scott Safechuck with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department says these operations have been taking place over the past few days help to remove anything that could fuel the fire.

They can drive along the roadside and cast out a flame to take up more fuel.

“They used drip torch operations, we had helicopter support, fixed-wing support, and you can see most of the vegetation is burned out of this area,” Captain Safechuck said.

“It doesn’t mean this area isn’t hot, we still have smoldering stuff in here and an oak tree over there. It’s still a threat to the community and we have fire engines in this area and they’re working up to 300 feet in the black area to extinguish that,” Safechuck said.

The process is also used to help protect nearby communities.

“We can incrementally drop drops of fire onto the ground to create a small fire that gets pulled up into the main fire and eliminates the fuel in here,” Safechuck said.

Captain Safechuck tells me the firing operations will not be considered complete until the fire is fully contained.