Reagan ranch, backdrop for legendary figures, threatened by Alisal fire

Firefighters from California Conservation Corps prepare as flames from the Alisal Fire move toward La Paloma Ranch near Refugio Canyon. Threatened by fire Flames were nearing Rancho del Cielo, the 688-acre ranch known as the “Western White House,” where Reagan and his wife, Nancy, played host to several world leaders. The property’s manager, Flemming Bertelsen, said Wednesday morning that the fire had come within a quarter-mile of the famed ranch but that so far it had “dodged a bullet.” “We were expecting to get slammed by the fire running up-canyon on us, but amazingly, this unusual north wind kept pushing it away from us,” he said. “People tend to underestimate fire behavior,” he said, “and when everything comes into alignment — when the winds and the topography and the fuels and the radiant sunlight all line up at once, there’s really nothing that’s going to stop fire from overrunning even a compound as well defended as Reagan Ranch.” A rich history With oak and manzanita trees and riding trails hidden in the Santa Ynez Mountains, Reagan’s ranch was a sanctuary from the pressures of the White House. And Ronald Reagan,” says Reagan biographer Paul Kengor, “had Rancho del Cielo.” Reagan called the sprawling, 688-acre ranch just outside of Santa Barbara his “open cathedral.” “The ranch is more part of him than any other California home,” says Kengor, author of “God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life”.