Santa Barbara County Public Health officials said an air quality watch was issued for the county. Some were residents of the area, but most were campers, officials said.
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Aircraft were diverted from other fires in the state to fight the Rey fire, which was reported about 3 p.m. when officials were alerted to black smoke coming from a hillside near Paradise Road. One man suffered heat- related injuries and was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Eliason said, while a firefighter suffered multiple bee stings and was treated at the scene.
Evacuation shelters have opened at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School in Santa Ynez and San Marcos High School in Goleta.
Caltrans said a portion of Highway 154 was closed and urged motorist to use USA 101 as an alternate route.
It was hot and dry when the fire broke out. He was allowed back into the area Friday, at least temporarily. No structures had been damaged as of Friday. They only had a small window of time before they had to get out again.
The blaze is expected to plume, according to Eliason, which means it will be able to “create its own weather”.
“That’s going to be at the mercy of the winds”, Eliason said Friday morning. These conditions will make battling the Rey Fire in the Los Padres National Forest hard for fire crews.
Firefighters quickly converged on the blaze, dubbed the Rey fire, which spread to more than 500 acres by Thursday evening, and had grown to 600 acres by Friday morning.
“If conditions deteriorate we will order more (aircraft)”, Eliason stated.
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In the Rey fire, no structures have been lost, but an unknown number of structures were threatened. “Make sure you have a plan”, he said, “These types of events are not uncommon where we live”.
