There's been a huge leap towards full containment of Santa Barbara County's massive Lake wildfire.
The blaze is at 63% containment as of Thursday afternoon. That's up from 42% Wednesday. There's been no growth in size in the 38,000+ acre fire. Most of the land that's burned is in the Los Padres National Forest, to the north and northeast of the Santa Ynez Valley.
More than 2700 firefighters are still mopping up the blaze, which is down by about a thousand firefighters from the peak level. The focus is on knocking down hot spots and building containment lines.
The weather has helped for the last few days, with cooler temperatures and higher humidity. But, crews are in a race of sorts to get containment, because another heat wave is expected to impact the region starting this weekend.
Firefighters were able to protect hundreds of at-risk structures. Three were destroyed, and one damaged. The fire started July 5 near Zaca Lake. The cause is still under investigation.
