Wind is the wild card in Goleta fire
'Sundowners,' a quirk of the Santa Barbara coast, were expected overnight. Smoke masks are distributed and some residents hurriedly make plans to evacuate if necessary. At Big Sur, nearly 69,000 acres have burned.
GOLETA, CALIF. — A fast-moving wildfire that consumed some 6,600 acres rained smoke and ash from the mountains Friday, leaving residents here wondering whether a stiffer breeze would come up to sweep the blaze into their neighborhoods overnight.
About 800 firefighters, backed by 10 air tankers and six helicopters, continued their assault on the blaze. Although the evening brought temporary relief, erratic winds known as "sundowners" were expected at up to 20 mph between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.
Because of the fire's proximity to populated areas, officials made it the state's top priority among the 335 wildfires burning across California, including a nearly 69,000-acre fire in the Big Sur area that continues to threaten homes and popular campgrounds.
Throughout the day, the Goleta blaze, called the Gap fire, left residents in the Santa Barbara County community hurriedly preparing to leave if necessary. Hundreds of smoke masks were distributed to residents.
After several unsettling nights in her Goleta neighborhood, Heather Wehnau, 27, decided to bunk with friends in Isla Vista, a community on the coast next to UC Santa Barbara. "Picture 'The Twilight Zone,' " she said. "The sky is orange. There's no power. Your neighbors are sitting on their porches with radios and flashlights. You can see the fire, you can smell it, you can't breathe -- but you don't know where it is."
Wehnau packed her cat, her dog, jewelry, documents, a Dr. Seuss book -- "Oh, the Places You'll Go" -- that was inscribed for her by her parents when she graduated from high school. Lacking electricity, she and some friends wore headlamps, lighted candles and threw a piece of tri-tip on the barbecue.
The flame front stayed about a mile north of Goleta's rustic neighborhoods Friday. Residents of more than 1,800 homes were ordered to evacuate and those in an additional 1,400 were told to start packing up their valuables in case an evacuation order came. No homes have burned since the fire started Tuesday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to visit with Santa Barbara County officials today.
The "sundowners" are a quirk of Santa Barbara's mountainous east-west coastline, bringing stiff, Santa Ana-like winds around sunset. They were expected to weaken over the weekend but remained a serious threat Friday.
Firefighters hoped the irrigated lemon and avocado groves north of Cathedral Oaks Road would slow any run the fire might take down the canyons. But the winds have caught them off guard before.
- Storm evacuations ordered in OC as rains hit Nov 26, 2008
- Town Evacuated as 2,000-Acre Forest Fire Draws Near Aug 26, 1994
- Brush Fires Sweep Across Scattered Areas of Southland Aug 17, 1992
