By Patric Hedlund & Gary Meyer

Fighting a raging wildfire in the Sespe Wilderness of the Los Padres National Forest presents major challenges.

Restrictions against use of heavy equipment in wilderness areas for any reason requires expertise in specialized wilderness suppression tactics.

The Pine fire, reported at 8:45 a.m. Thursday, June 30 about 16 miles south of Pine Mountain Club and 11 miles north of Ojai, quickly grew from 7 acres to 100 acres around…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

The Pine fire in the Sespe Wilderness raged (left) for 5 days. But finally by Wednesday night it was 30% contained. See map below.

Voluntary evacuations were begun at Camp Scheideck by Sunday. The fire grew to 1,634 acres by the 4th of July. By Wednesday evening July 6 the Pine fire was 2,058 acres, but suddenly containment efforts began to pay off.

An air tanker drops retardant on the Pine fire, Tuesday, July 5.

Ventura County fire crews chipped brush to remove fuels.

An Erickson sky crane loads up with water at a dip tank.

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This is part of the July 8, 2016 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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