Update: A more recent article about the Lake Fire can be found here.
The evacuation zone for the Lake Fire, burning in a rugged area of Santa Barbara County, has been expanded for five straight days and now covers more than 150 square miles.
As of Friday, July 12, the fire was at 36,707 acres (57 square miles) with 19% containment, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. It is the state’s biggest wildfire of the year.
Thursday’s expansion of the evacuation order was to the northeast, including the Bone Mountain area, and Friday’s was at the southern end. A narrow strip east of Foxen Canyon Road was downgraded to a warning.
Most of the fire’s recent growth has been toward the southeast, into a wilderness area, CalFire said.
The map above shows the approximate fire perimeter as a black line and the evacuation zone in red. For more evacuation details and latest updates, see Santa Barbara County’s emergency map.
The fire started on July 5 near Zaca Lake, in Los Padres National Forest. Its cause is under investigation.
In 2007, the same area was burned by the Zaca Fire, which at that time was the second largest wildfire in California’s recorded history — 240,207 acres (375 square miles). It was started on July 4 by sparks from a grinding tool, and hot spots continued to burn until the last days of October.