A 67-year-old sailor accidentally ignited a wildfire on Santa Rosa Island after firing distress flares from his grounded sailboat. The U.S. Coast Guard rescued the uninjured man on Saturday, but the blaze had already spread to over 10,000 acres by Monday, forcing evacuations and destroying park buildings. The fire is burning within half a mile of a stand of Torrey pines, a critically endangered species.

These rare trees, found naturally only in San Diego and on Santa Rosa Island, face an extremely high extinction risk. The island's ecosystem hosts about 145 unique species, making the fire a significant ecological threat. Firefighters are battling heavy winds to protect the pines, which have existed on the island for millennia and are considered possibly the rarest pine globally.

Approximately 40 firefighters are on the island, with more en route, using boats to transport gear from Ventura. Wind gusts up to 50 mph initially grounded water drops, but conditions are expected to ease. The blaze has destroyed three structures and prompted a helicopter evacuation of 11 Park Service staff. This marks the first major wildfire on the island since the National Park Service assumed management in the 1980s.