The Region - News from June 4, 1985

A brush fire burned out of control in the San Marcos Pass area just north of Santa Barbara. A spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department said the blaze began between California 154 and Via Chaparral, about a mile north of Foothill Road. More than 100 firefighters from a dozen engine companies, two bulldozers and two air tankers were brought to the scene, but after an hour, the spokesman said, the fire had consumed 60 acres of dry brushland, and posed a possible threat to about 15 structures clustered in the pass area. Fire marshals speculated that the blaze might be connected with six smaller fires, all apparently of incendiary origin.