In Southern California, crews working through the night stopped the spread of two Los Angeles County fires that erupted Sunday and together burned several structures, charred hundreds of acres of dry brush and led to the arson arrest of one person. They’ll continue construction of control lines throughout the day.
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Cal Fire spokesman Bennet Milloy says the fire burning near the San Luis Obispo County town of Santa Margarita has grown to more than 3 square miles early Tuesday.
Today’s priorities will be keeping the fire out of the Santa Lucia Wilderness, protecting the power lines and communication towers threatened by the fire, Cal Fire says. Evacuations were ordered for the area of Santa Margarita south of the railroad tracks and all of Miller Flats.
No additional information about how the vehicle started the fires was immediately available. Air resources will support ground crew as soon as visability allow for safe aerial operations.
The communities surrounding the Cuesta Fire can expect to see smoke throughout the day and into the evening. Firefighters are asking motorists to avoid northbound Highway 101 if possible.
A brush fire near a riverbed in Montebello was 80 percent contained at 370 acres, and a 45-year-old man was under arrest on suspicion of arson.
Cal Fire officials said the same vehicle sparked three fires Sunday, starting with the Grade Fire on the Nojoqui Summit south of Buellton in Santa Barbara County, the Cuesta Fire (also originally dubbed the Grade Fire) and the Cholame Fire on Highway 41 at Cottonwood Pass.
UPDATE 9 p.m.: The fires burning on the Cuesta Grade, dubbed the Cuesta Fire, have burned approximately 75 acres.
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San Luis Obispo County CAL FIRE said Monday morning the fire is only 10 percent contained, but crews made good progress overnight on line construction on the fire’s north eastern edge. As of 8 a.m., the fire was only 10-percent contained.
