Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Smoke Jumpers Dropped Into Channel Islands To Fight Lighting Caused Brush Fire

(Photo by Mike Eliason, Santa Barbara County Fire Department)
Lightning from a thunderstorm triggered a blaze on Santa Cruz Island Monday

An unusual brush fire not on, but off the South Coast led to an even more unusual response.

A boater spotted a brush fire on Santa Cruz Island just after 9 Monday morning in the Scorpion Canyon area. A team of four U.S. Forest Service smoke jumpers was dispatched from Porterville to battle the lighting-caused fire.

They were dropped into the area from a fixed-wing plane at around 1 p.m., and spent the afternoon working to corral the estimated one tenth of an acre fire. Full containment is expected by Tuesday morning.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral. 
Related Stories