Massive wildfire becomes California's largest blaze of the year
The fire has scorched at least 131 square miles of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, with just 9% containment.
Smoke from the Gifford Fire fills the sky over Los Padres National Forest (Noah Berger/AP)
It surpassed the 126 square mile Madre Fire, which erupted last month in south-eastern San Luis Obispo County, as the state's largest fire of 2025.
Crews working in steep, inaccessible terrain will be dealing with temperatures around 35C on Wednesday and above 38C on Thursday, said Captain Scott Safechuck with Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
'We have hot weather, and we have low relative humidity,' he said. 'So we expect extreme fire behaviour.'
Luckily, winds are expected to remain relatively calm, he added.
Wildfire risk will be elevated through the weekend across much of inland California as the heatwave intensifies.
The southern part of the state has seen very little rain, drying out vegetation and making it 'ripe to burn', the National Weather Service for Los Angeles warned in a statement.
An air tanker drops retardant on the Gifford Fire (Noah Berger/AP)
Temperatures around 38C are forecast for the Sacramento Valley.
More than 2,200 personnel are battling the Gifford Fire, which grew out of at least four smaller fires that erupted on Friday along State Route 166, forcing closures in both directions east of Santa Maria, a city of about 110,000 people. The causes of the fires are under investigation.
Flames are racing through a vast, mostly unpopulated region that includes forests, ranches, large canyon properties and agricultural parcels growing wine grapes and strawberries.
The weather service warned of health risks from spreading smoke that could affect much of south-west California.
Officials reported four injuries, including a firefighter who was treated for dehydration. Over the weekend, a motorist was treated in hospital for burn injuries after getting out of his vehicle and being overrun by flames, and two contract employees assisting firefighters were hurt when their all-terrain vehicle overturned.
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