The Gifford fire has scorched more than 30,000 acres in less than two days in Los Padres National Forest as firefighters struggle to quell the blaze in the Sierra Madre mountains.
Wildland firefighters were continuing to battle the blaze Saturday along Highway 166 in rural Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, about 20 miles east of Santa Maria, according to the U.S. Forest Service and Cal Fire. But fire crews were faced with challenging conditions such as high temperatures, dry vegetation and rugged terrain.
As of Saturday evening, the fire was 5% contained and continuing to chew through the tall, dry grass and chaparral that covers the steep hills and mountains. Evacuation orders and warnings were issued for agricultural lands near the unincorporated community of Garey.
Although the fire is on federally managed land, Cal Fire crews joined the response to assist with more ground personnel and firefighting aircraft.
Criticized on the social media platform X for the fire’s explosive growth, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press 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 burning, a process that reduces the risk of explosive fires by proactively burning vegetation in a controlled environment.
As of Saturday evening, a California Interagency Incident Management Team — composed of federal, state and county firefighters from various agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, Cal Fire, the state’s Office of Emergency Services and county-level fire departments — was tasked with taking command of the incident.
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 start points along Highway 166.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
