Firefighters have yet to contain the blaze that broke out Friday. Photo: Ventura Coast Guard Air Station//Catalina Island Conservancy//screenshot
More than 10,000 acres of Santa Rosa Island are ablaze, with zero percent containment. The fire started on Friday, May 15, when a stranded sailor crashed his boat into rocks and shot off flares.
The Ventura Coast Guard Air Station reported that they rescued the 67-year-old man the morning of Saturday, May 16, and he was uninjured. At the time, the fire started by the sailor was 1,000 acres, but it has since grown to 10 times that, with more than 70 firefighting personnel responding to the blaze.
At 53,000 acres, Santa Rosa Island is the second largest in the Channel Islands National Park off the coast of Southern California. Nearly one-fifth of the island has been burned so far.
View this post on Instagram
According to the Catalina Island Conservancy, 11 national park employees were safely evacuated from the island, and two historic structures were burned. The island has a unique flora and fauna, housing plants and animals not found anywhere else on Earth, like island foxes, island spotted skunks, and the Santa Rosa Island Torrey pine.
The conservancy highlights that non-native animals introduced by humans, such as elk, deer, cattle, and pigs, devastated much of the island’s natural habitat. Now, the island is mainly covered by seasonal grassland that fuels wildfires.
Sunday was gusty on Santa Rosa Island, with wind over 30 miles per hour from the northwest. Cal Fire said the wind created difficult conditions for air operations, driving the fire uphill. Winds are expected to be relatively calm for the next several days.
On Sunday, another fire broke out about 80 miles to the east on the California mainland, engulfing 720 acres in Simi Valley with zero percent containment.
