(Originally published at 8:24 a.m. PDT July 12, 2017)
There have been no major changes in the status of the Alamo Fire east of Santa Maria, California in the last couple of days. The Incident Management Team fine tunes the mapped perimeter every day, mostly to make it more accurate.
Satellites have not detected any large heat sources during the previous 24 hours. This does not mean the fire is out; just that what is still burning can’t be detected by the sensors flying 200 miles overhead. A fixed wing mapping aircraft with infrared equipment flying much lower at 2 a.m. Wednesday found dozens of scattered hot spots, mostly in the northeast and south areas.
The fire is very large, 28,687 acres, and it will take some time to complete a fire line around the entire perimeter and mop up far enough inside to ensure it will be under control.
A mandatory evacuation order is still in effect for Tepusquet Canyon. Highway 166 is closed from Highway 101 to new Cuyama, and Tepusquet Canyon Road is closed from Highway 166 to Santa Maria Mesa Road.
The map of the Alamo Fire we posted Tuesday is still valid.
All articles we have written about the fire are tagged “Alamo Fire” and can be found here, with the most recent at the top.