The Associated Press
SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Authorities say a brush fire near the California ranch of former President Ronald Reagan has been knocked down after burning 10 acres and sending thick smoke over mountains north of Santa Barbara.
U.S. Forest Service spokesman Eric Garcia says firefighters using water-dropping helicopters fully surrounded the blaze in about four hours Saturday.
Garcia says fire officials downgraded an earlier estimate that 30 acres had burned. No evacuations were ordered.
The blaze was about a quarter-mile from Rancho Del Cielo, Reagan’s West Coast home while he was president and now a historical center.
Center director Andrew Coffin says heavy smoke that loomed over the house earlier has dissipated.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.