It dropped from the headlines weeks ago. But, Santa Barbara County’s massive Alisal brush fire was officially fully contained this week.
The blaze began in the Santa Ynez Mountains October 11th, and in its first few hours burned down to the ocean. It destroyed a dozen homes, and closed Highway 101 for three days.
Firefighters got the upper hand on the nearly 17,000 acre fire by the end of the first week. But, building a containment line around the entire blaze took time.
It was declared fully contained on Tuesday.
Even though we had the storm last month which dumped more than an inch of rain on the burn zone, firefighters were still spotting smoldering spots within the containment lines this week. With windy conditions in the weather forecast for Sunday and Monday, they’ll be keeping an eye out for potential flareups.