Eleven National Park Service employees were airlifted off Santa Rosa Island on Sunday after a wildfire that began Friday morning on the remote island’s southeastern side kept spreading with no containment. Santa Barbara County Fire Department’s Helicopter 964 carried the workers to Oxnard Airport without injury as the blaze continued to burn on both flanks.
The evacuation came as the National Park Service said the fire had reached 5,692 acres by Sunday evening and remained at 0% containment. Crews also confirmed that two uninhabited historic structures were destroyed, along with one additional storage structure, as the fire advanced near Ford Point and into the East Point area. The park has closed Santa Rosa Island to day and overnight use at least through this week, and Water Canyon Campground reservation holders have been notified.
Channel Islands National Park officials said the vegetation fire was first reported around 4:30 a.m. Friday by an aircraft flying overhead. By 3 p.m. that day, federal wildland resources were en route, but the fire remained active Sunday evening on both its eastern and western edges. Fire had reached East Point and East Point Road on the east side, while activity on the west side had moderated but was still near the South Point Lighthouse.
The scale of the response also reflected how exposed the island remains to weather and water access. A Gale Warning stayed in effect until 3 a.m. Monday, limiting marine support and aerial work while firefighters and park rangers continued operations on the island. Dozens of personnel remained there Sunday evening trying to hold the fire around park infrastructure, cultural resources and habitat.
The incident is being treated as a full-suppression, human-caused wildfire under investigation, which means crews are not just watching the perimeter but pushing hard to stop spread wherever they can. That matters on Santa Rosa Island, which is remote and oceanside and home to six plant species found nowhere else on Earth. The fire has already been tracked in continuing updates, including Santa Rosa Island Fire grows to 5,692 acres as 11 workers airlifted off island and Santa Rosa Island Fire burns 10,029 acres as crews race wind, terrain, and the next decision point is whether the weather eases before crews lose more ground to wind and terrain.
The island was already the scene of another emergency Friday morning, when a local sport fishing captain said he saw orange smoke near Ford Point around 9:30 a.m. and later spotted a man onshore beside a partially sunken sailboat. After the man fired a flare, the captain contacted authorities. The Coast Guard said Sector Los Angeles–Long Beach coordinated a rescue at 9:45 a.m., and an Air Station Ventura helicopter hoisted the 67-year-old man from shore with no injuries reported.
For now, the answer to the central question is plain: Santa Rosa Island is not reopening soon. The fire is still active, the damage is already real, and crews are working against wind, distance and a growing burn scar to keep the island from losing more of its fragile ground.
