Near Zaca Lake, on July 4th, 2007, two ranchers were repairing a broken pipe so that their cattle would have water. While grinding pipes, a spark of hot metal flew into the air and landed in a spot where, fanned by wind, the ember caused a fire that burned for over two months and scorched well over a quarter of a million acres. While La Casa was not immediately in danger, Santa Barbara was peppered with smoke and ash. As you can see on the map below, such fires are capricious and dangerous as attested to by the 2007 October fires in Southern California. See the photo blow the map. Return to Map Index.

Photo by Roy Ford.