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

Containment Now At 90% For Santa Barbara County's Cave Fire

Firefighters are closing in on full containment of Santa Barbara County’s Cave brush fire. It currently stands at 90% containment. The blaze has charred just over 3100 acres of land in the mountains in the San Marcos Pass area, above Santa Barbara and Goleta.

No homes were lost to the fire, which started a week ago Monday in the East Camino Cielo area. The cause is still under investigation. Some 5000 people faced mandatory evacuation orders, but they were all lifted before the start of the holiday weekend.

Highway 154 was closed between Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley by the fire. Crews worked through the weekend repairing damaged guardrails. As of 6 a.m. Monday, the CHP is reporting that 154 has been reopened.  Officials caution there could be lane closures at times due to ongoing repair work.

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.