A wildfire burning on Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc was 70% contained Thursday, Air Force officials said.
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The firefighters were among more than 1,000 personnel assigned to the blaze.
No details on the direction or size of the fire were available, nor were details on the evacuations or at-risk buildings.
Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Steve Swindle says the crash occurred at a roundabout on State Route 246 just outside Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The fire that broke out Saturday in a remote canyon at the South Base of Vandenberg intensified Wednesday, fueled by dry conditions and winds, according to a media advisory.
It also forced postponement of an Atlas 5 rocket launch scheduled to carry an Earth-imaging satellite into orbit. The launch has been postponed, although a new launch date has not been determined.
Officials said the fire did not pose an immediate threat to the space launch complex. The fire is not related to the Canyon fire on South Base. The fire is not likely to spread beyond containment lines, Vandenberg Air Force Base officials added in a statement this morning. No facilities or buildings have been damaged as of yet, but a number were threatened.
Voluntary evacuation orders are in place for about 400 residents of the San Miguelito Canyon area just off the base near Lompoc. The second firefighter, who has not been identified, suffered minor injuries. The incident remains under investigation by authorities.
A firefighter died and another was injured as hundreds of their colleagues battled a ravaging central California wildfire.
Despite the progress, fire officials caution that hot spots will likely linger for several days. It is 45 percent contained.
A water-dropping helicopter aided about 100 firefighters as they attacked the flames “hard and fast from the ground and the air”, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement.
Weather forecasts indicate that winds tomorrow will blow to the northwest, which will likely aid firefighting efforts by pushing the fire toward areas that have already burned.
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The fire appears to be “human caused”, reports InciWeb.
