A wildfire in the mountains of Southern California's Santa Barbara County has burned more than 16,000 acres, prompted evacuations and put ranches, including Michael Jackson's former Neverland Ranch, at risk, according to authorities.
The blaze, dubbed the “Lake Fire,” began shortly before 4 p.m. Friday near Lake Zaca, northeast of Los Olivos, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The cause of the fire, which had no containment as of Sunday, remains under investigation.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office issued an evacuation order for an area near Los Padres National Forest that includes 2,700 acres in Los Olivos, about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles, once known as Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
Cal Fire spokesman Kenichi Haskett said the evacuation orders affected about 100 residents, but no damage to structures, injuries or deaths have been reported so far.
Winds were blowing the fire southeast. Neverland Ranch and other ranches were in immediate danger Sunday, Haskett said.
Jackson bought the ranch in 1988 for about $17 million and turned it into a private entertainment center with a zoo, a train and an amusement park with a Ferris wheel and a 50-seat theater.
He named the ranch Neverland Ranch after the legendary island of Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up.
Before his death in 2009, Jackson faced multiple allegations of sexually abusing boys, some of whom claimed they had been abused at Neverland. After being acquitted at his trial in 2005, Jackson never returned to the ranch.
Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Scott Safechuck said on social media that temperatures in the area over the weekend reached the 90s Fahrenheit and relative humidity was low.
More than 750 firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service and Santa Barbara County Fire Department have been deployed to the blaze, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Air support is being provided by 10 air tankers and three helicopters, Safechuck said.
Evacuation warnings were issued north of Zaca Lake Road, east of Foxen Canyon Road and south of Sisquoc River, according to Inciweb, a national information system for wildfires and all disasters.
The fire was first reported at 3:45 p.m., according to the U.S. Forest Service. Low relative humidity, gusty winds and scorching temperatures combined to create a mixture of flammable materials, causing the fire to grow to 4,000 acres by 11 p.m., according to the service. By Sunday, the fire had burned at least 16,452 acres.
