the blaze. The fire started in a place difficult to see from existing lookouts, and may have burned for hours before the smoke was initially spotted. The lack of good access roads was cited as another obstacle to fighting the fire. Within two weeks of the end of the fire, bids were opened for construction of State Route 399 (today's State Route 33), which runs between Ojai and Maricopa. The road would have run through the approximate center of the Matilija fire and if it had existed, the fire could perhaps have been stopped there. During the fire, protocols were established for inter-agency (state and federal) coordination, and a need was recognized for standardization of training and terminology for fire crews. However, the fire had little overall impact on federal policy, especially since the rest of the 1930s saw much lower fire activity in California. Large debris flows occurred in the rainy seasons after the fire, causing extensive property damage and silting in reservoirs. Massive volumes of sediment went down the Santa Ynez River into the reservoir behind Gibraltar Dam, the primary source of drinking water for the city of Santa Barbara. The Forest Service built debris dams on Agua Caliente Creek and Mono Creek, tributaries of the Santa Ynez River, in an effort to protect Gibraltar. Within two years, the debris dams had filled in with more than of sediment. See also List of California wildfires References Citations Bibliography External links 1932 in California September 1932 events Wildfires in Ventura County, California Wildfires in Santa Barbara County, California