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Incident Contact: Los Padres Information Center (805) 961-5770
Incident: Day Fire
Released: 2006-09-21 11:18:00 ET
Day Fire Information September 21 Update

Public Meeting – A community meeting will be held Thursday at the Chaparral School Auditorium at 6:30 PM in Ojai.

Fire managers are welcoming another day of slightly cooler and moist conditions as good work continued to contain the Day Fire that now has topped 100,000 acres. The fire, which only had minimal growth yesterday, is now 35 percent contained. Much of the new containment is on the south flank. The most active fire was on the northwest corner near Thorn Meadows, and on the north flank in Alamo Mountain. Although smoke columns late in the day appeared to indicate fire was near Topatopa Bluff, that flank was inactive with little movement. Excellent air support from 25 helicopters, and numerous air tanker retardant drops, checked the fires progress on the south and north flanks. A burnout operation near Black Mountain, which began at about 4 PM is progressing as planned and will continue today. The intent is to burn fuel under a controlled condition from the mountain tops down to Piru Creek, and then continue west to Mutau Flats.

Ventura County Sheriff has changed the recommended evacuation status to a precautionary status in Lockwood Valley and Scheideck. The fire is still approximately 7 air miles north of Fillmore, 9 miles north of Santa Paula, 7 miles south of Lockwood Valley and 9 miles northeast of Ojai.

Fire fighters will focus on the south flank today, completing fire line in the Bear Heaven area. Elsewhere, “contingency” lines, located away from the main blaze, are completed from Lockwood Valley Road, extending east through Frazier Peak to near Hungry Valley State Recreation Area. A Fire Weather Watch, predicting strong Santa Ana winds this weekend, has heightened fire fighters concerns as they attempt to complete as much line as possible on the current 59 mile fire perimeter. Two incident management teams are now managing the incident.

For updated fire information, road and area closures contact Ventura County Fire Protection District Headquarters at 805-388-4276; and the Los Padres National Forest at 805-961-5770. Los Padres National Forest officials have initiated a very large forest closure in the fires proximity due to potential growth.

Statistics: Acres – 100,980
Containment – 35 percent
Personnel – 2128