SANTA BARBARA — The Jesusita fire slid into canyon fingers along the ridgeline above Santa Barbara on Friday, creating a five-mile curtain of flames and smoke from Goleta to Montecito and driving 30,500 residents from their homes.
The fire, which leaped west and east before dawn, did not spread much during the day, but state fire officials upped their estimate of the burned acreage from 3,500 to 8,600, saying they were able to make a more accurate assessment. They put the number of homes damaged or destroyed at 80.
The cost of battling the blaze is now $3.2 million, with 3,455 personnel, 428 engines, 14 air tankers, 15 helicopters and the state's specially equipped DC-10 trying to snuff it out.
By evening the fire was still only 10% contained, and firefighters were making stands at both ends of the blaze, waiting to see if the area's notorious sundowner winds would carry flames down the mountain.
On the western front, fire crews lined up along State Route 154 where it crosses Maria Ygnacia Creek, which dumps into a sheer-walled canyon. If the fire jumped the road, it could run straight south down the canyon toward Goleta. If the fire hopped the creek, it could burn west and threaten the heavily wooded residential community of Painted Canyon.
"This is where they better make for damn sure it doesn't go farther," said Art Tranberg, a safety officer with the U.S. Forest Service.
At least 20 engines and eight hand crews were going up and down the mountain road, dousing spot fires and bracing for expected winds. "There are going to be sundowners, they're adamant about that," said Mike Crosby, 44, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention engineer from Napa.
He and his three firefighters monitored a hot spot burning through thick oak and chaparral. The vegetation was too dense to penetrate, so they could only wait to see if the winds would kick up.
A hundred yards away, an oak tree exploded, sending up a torch of flame and black smoke. "It just hit a little jackpot of fuel there," Crosby said.
Crosby feared if the winds blew up as strongly as the night before, the brush would unleash 100-foot flames at his men. He said they couldn't do much if that happened.
"I'm not going to let my three guys get hurt, and I'm not going to get hurt. I want to go home to my wife and grandkids," said Crosby. He said he had mapped an escape route.
