Santa Barbara · Incident start: May 15, 2026
Between Ford Point and South Point, the reports first paired 17,554 acres with 44% containment. Subsequent updates repeatedly cited 18,379 acres, even while the containment figure changed substantially.
What the incident record shows
The same area appeared alongside 59%, 72%, 87% and 97%. Those observations let us separate two phases without guessing a spread rate: the mapped footprint changed between the early estimates, then crews reported progress securing the fire without expanding that published footprint.
Reading the figures
The CAL FIRE incident summary updated July 8, 2026 lists 18,379 acres and 100% containment. These are historical reporting figures.
An island shoreline is a geographic boundary, but these figures do not tell us which edges were secured by crews, which met the shore, or how much habitat burned at high severity.