I saw some of the smoke from this fire that was coming over by Interstate 5 inland from Vandenburg out on the coast in the general area of Santa Barbara to it's south there on the coast. At the time I was wondering what all the smoke was about and looked it up on my internet on my cell phone and found out about this fire.
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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Crews increased containment while halting …
MILITARY
Crews halt growth of California base wildfire
In this Monday, Sept. 19, 2016 photo provided
by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, a fire burns several miles
behind Space Launch Complex-3, housing the Atlas V rocket &
WorldView 4 satellite, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Crews are
working to surround the wildfire at the central California Air Force
base that forced the postponement of a weekend satellite launch. The
blaze has expanded to the south as it grew to more than 16 square miles.
(Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)
(The Associated Press)
The blaze at Vandenberg Air Force Base was 70 percent contained, and base officials said they were hopeful that number would go up throughout the day.
The fire that broke out in a remote canyon and forced the postponement of a satellite launch was holding steady at about 19 square miles (49 sq. kilometers) after several days of growth.
There was no word of any threatened structures on the sprawling base, much of which is undeveloped mountain land. The cause was under investigation.
A firefighter died Wednesday and another was hurt when the water truck they were in overturned on a highway outside the city of Lompoc, miles from the fire lines.
Ventura County firefighter Ryan Osler was killed, and Adam Price was injured. There were no other occupants in the truck.
The California Highway Patrol was investigating the cause of the crash.
Officials said the fire did not pose an immediate threat to the base's launch complex that fires satellites into space.
Vandenberg encompasses nearly 156 square miles (405 sq. kilometers) along the Pacific Ocean. A wind-whipped fire in 1977 killed the base commander, the base fire chief, an assistant chief and a bulldozer operator.
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