Fierce California wildfire burns into fourth night
Pastor Dale Morgan
Fierce California wildfire burns into fourth night
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Reuters
Reuters - Saturday, May 9
By Lucy Nicholson
SANTA BARBARA, California - A California wildfire burnt for a fourth day
on Friday above the seaside town of Santa Barbara as firefighters hoped
the weather would help them gain a measure of control over the flames
that have destroyed 75 homes.
Another 3,500 homes and about 100 businesses remained in immediate
jeopardy from the so-called Jesusita fire, which had blackened more than
3,500 acres in the foothills above the picturesque community by the time
darkness began to fall on Friday evening. It destroyed 75 homes and
forced thousands of people to flee.
No civilian casualties have been reported so far but the blaze has
injured 11 firefighters, three of them hospitalized with burns and smoke
inhalation.
Crews battling days of hot, dry erratic winds have made little progress
in controlling the firestorm but were cautiously optimistic that
unexpectedly calm, moist conditions at dusk could give them that chance.
The most dangerous time of day has proven to be nightfall, when the hot,
unpredictable "sundowner" winds pick up and fan the flames through steep
canyons into neighbourhoods of multimillion-dollar homes.
'THE WIND COULD CHANGE'
"We have an onshore condition and when the air is coming off the ocean
the humidity is fairly high and pushes the fire back away from the
community," Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Tom Franklin told a
late-afternoon news conference.
"And both of those things are good for now but the predictions are that
the sundowner condition is still there," Franklin said. "The wind could
change and blow the fire downhill."
As of Friday evening, about 21,000 area residents were under a mandatory
evacuation order with another 10,000 warned that they should be ready to
get out at a moment's notice, county officials said.
That amounts to more than half of the population of Santa Barbara,
located 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
"Right now, if you are not evacuated in the Santa Barbara area, you are
sheltering evacuees," city Fire Chief Andrew DiMizio told Reporters.
"This has affected the entire community."
He said fire crews fought a heroic battle to keep the blaze from pushing
southward through a key park and into the city proper while other teams
scrambled to put out roof fires at the edge of town.
Supermodel-turned clothing designer Kathy Ireland was among those who
had to flee the fire.
"Santa Barbara fires ... We are OK!" she wrote on her Twitter page on
Friday afternoon. "Being evacuated, pls pray for all! Finding place
2stay .. will be in touch when can Thanks! God bless you."
The area's last major brush fire, in November, destroyed more than 200
homes in Santa Barbara and nearby communities. That blaze was blamed on
a bonfire started by local students. The latest fire remains under
investigation.