TMZ reports that the Santa Barbara County estate is perilously close to the Lake Fire, which has scorched over 18,000 acres since its inception on July 5 and remains less than ten percent contained.
The blaze is currently spreading through rural areas around the Los Padres National Forest, with concerns that it could potentially reach more densely populated communities to the south or west.
Anthony Stornetta, incident commander with Santa Barbara County Fire, explained, “As we’re looking at the fire, we’re trying to approach it directly on the fire line. If the terrain proves too steep and rugged, we’ll adopt an indirect strategy. We’re also preparing for contingencies well ahead of the fire’s path.”
A record-breaking heat wave across the Western United States, exacerbated by increasingly dry conditions, has contributed to the rapid growth of several major wildfires.
National Weather Service meteorologists noted, “A heat wave of this intensity and duration hasn’t been seen in this region in two decades.”
During recent updates, first responders refrained from specifying how close the flames were to structures, but photographs indicated smoke visible from the entrance of Sycamore Valley Ranch, formerly known as Neverland Ranch, the estate Jackson purchased in 1987 and named after the fictional “Neverland” in the Peter Pan tale.
According to CAL FIRE, there have been 54 arson-related arrests so far this year.
