Santa Rosa Island Fire Started by Stranded Sailor Hits 10,000 Acres
A wildfire on Santa Rosa Island has burned 10,029 acres, roughly 19% of the island, and remained 0% contained Monday morning, three days after it started on the southeastern end of Channel Islands National Park. It is the largest wildfire in California so far this year.
CAL FIRE logged the incident at 4:19 PM Friday, May 15, in remote terrain between Ford Point and South Point on the south side of the island. The U.S. Coast Guard has stated that an emergency flare set off by a stranded 67-year-old sailor, whom the agency hoisted out by helicopter Sunday, accidentally ignited the fire. CAL FIRE still lists the official cause as under investigation.
NPS evacuated 11 employees by helicopter Sunday with no reported injuries. The island is closed to all day and overnight use through the week, and Water Canyon Campground reservation holders have been notified.
About 70 firefighters worked the blaze over the weekend, with additional crews and equipment moving in Monday, arriving by boat. Aerial water drops have been knocked back by gale-force winds.
Three structures have been confirmed destroyed: Johnson’s Lee Equipment Shed and an adjacent storage building on the western edge of the fire, and Wreck Line Camp Cabin on the eastern edge. The fire is also burning near South Point Lighthouse, with no current word on the landmark’s status.
The defensive priority is the pier and adjacent bridge – the only way personnel, supplies, and eventually visitors get on or off the island.
The ecological stakes are steep. Santa Rosa is home to six plant species found nowhere else in the world, including the Santa Rosa Island subspecies of Torrey pine, plus the island fox and a string of federally listed plants and shorebirds. The island also contains thousands of federally protected Chumash archaeological sites.
Smoke has drifted across the Santa Barbara Channel into Los Angeles and adjacent parts of Southern California, creating hazy skies and degraded air quality. Conditions remain clear and dry on the island, and fire managers expect continued active behavior until winds ease. You can track the fire at InciWeb or the CalFire website.
