The Gap Fire was a fire that burned of the Santa Ynez Mountains above

Goleta Goleta or La Goleta may refer to: * ''Goleta'' (spider), a spider genus * Goleta, California, United States, a suburban city in Santa Barbara County * La Goleta, the Spanish and Portuguese name for La Goulette, a municipality and the port of Tu ...

, California between July 1 and July 28, 2008. The fire burned primarily on steep slopes above the community of Goleta. Dense brush that had not burned in over fifty years, coupled with steep terrain made the fire challenging for firefighters. Initial efforts by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department nearly contained the fire before it broke loose. When the first engine arrive on scene at 5:32 p.m. on July 1, the fire was less than a quarter acre, but then winds came up and swept the fire over the ridge and down into drainage. By July 3 the fire had grown to more than forcing the county to declare a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

. During the initial operational periods, the fire was driven downhill by

Sundowner winds A sundowner is a northerly offshore wind in California along the southern Pacific slope of Santa Ynez Mountains, in communities along the Gaviota Coast and Santa Barbara towards but not including Ventura County. Formation It occurs when a region ...

and burned to the edges of Goleta requiring the multiple strike teams for structure protection. After the initial 48 hours, the winds died down allowing firefighters to begin working in the mountainous terrain to contain the fire.

Power Issues

The fire caused major power issues for residents and businesses in

, Isla Vista, Santa Barbara and even as far south as Montecito. Southern California Edison high voltage transmission lines carrying power to the region pass directly through the area of the fire. During the peak of the outages, over 150,000 customers were reported to be without power.

Relief efforts

Emergency response organization Direct Relief provided 35,000 free NIOSH N-95 particulate respirators to local residents.

References

{{2008 California wildfires 2008 California wildfires Santa Ynez Mountains Wildfires in Santa Barbara County, California July 2008 events in the United States