The Gifford fire has scorched nearly 50,000 acres in less than three days in the Los Padres National Forest as firefighters struggle to quell the blaze raging in the Sierra Madre mountains.
Officials have reported three injuries, which were sustained by civilian contractors, authorities said.
Wildland firefighters were continuing to work to stop the blaze Sunday along Highway 166 in rural Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties about 15 miles east of Santa Maria, according to the U.S. Forest Service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. But crews were faced with challenging conditions including high temperatures, dry vegetation and rugged terrain.
As the fire expanded Sunday, crews constructed fire lines and protected structures in Schoolhouse and Cottonwood canyons, the interagency team managing the fire response said in a statement. More than 1,000 personnel have been assigned to the fire.
As of Sunday evening, the fire was 3% contained and continuing to burn through the tall, dry grass and chaparral that cover the steep hills and mountains. Evacuation orders and warnings were issued for agricultural lands near the unincorporated community of Garey. More than 220 people were under an evacuation warning, and 184 had been evacuated as of Sunday morning, according to Flemming Bertelsen, public information officer for Los Padres National Forest.
Although the fire is on federally managed land, Cal Fire crews joined the response to assist with more ground personnel and firefighting aircraft.
Two contractors were injured and hospitalized Saturday when their utility task vehicle overturned, Los Padres National Forest officials said in a statement. Additionally, one civilian was airlifted to a hospital with burn injuries.
As California Gov. Gavin Newsom was criticized on the social media platform X for the fire’s explosive growth, his media office reiterated that the fire was not on state land.
“The #GiffordFire started on Trump’s federally managed land in the Los Padres NATIONAL Forest,” read the post. “While Trump just gutted wildfire funding, @CAL_FIRE is now stepping in to clean up what federal mismanagement helped fuel.”
Newsom has criticized President Trump for cutting funding for forest management, including activities such as prescribed burns, which reduce the risk of explosive fires by proactively burning vegetation in a controlled environment.
The incident’s unified command was composed of a California Interagency Incident Management Team, Cal Fire, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, officials wrote in a statement.
The fire was first reported about 2 p.m. Friday near Los Padres National Forest’s Gifford trailhead, not far from the perimeter of the recently extinguished Madre fire. According to Cal Fire, the blaze had multiple starting points along Highway 166.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
