Santa Barbara County declared a state of emergency on Friday as the out-of-control Sherpa Fire that has chewed through more than 4,000 acres and forced numerous evacuations continued to rage.
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Extremely hot and dry weather was forecast to continue into the weekend, although gusty winds should ease, fire officials said.
The California inferno appeared to support national wildfire authorities’ predictions of another unsafe and hard year for the state after years of drought.
A wildfire burning in the mountains west of Santa Barbara more than doubled in size overnight, driven by fierce “sundowner” winds that have gusted to over 40 miles per hour.
Meanwhile, in Santa Barbara, about 800 firefighters struggled to reach the narrow, brush-choked coastal canyons to attack the flames. Also, officials said about 270 structures are under 72-hour threat and more than 1,200 firefighters are working the blaze.
Hundreds of people were forced from campgrounds after the fire first erupted in a scenic area of the California coast that was in the spotlight a year ago when a major oil spill hit.
“We’re just taking advantage of those conditions and building those containment lines, and using that natural barrier to hopefully prevent future fires in that area”, Singh said. A fleet of aircraft dropped water and retardant to combat a wind-driven wildfire burning out of control.
In New Mexico, which is not under the heat wave warning, communities were on edge after a fire in the central part of the state destroyed 24 homes near the small community of Chilili earlier this week, officials said. They could not immediately say how many homes were immediately threatened by the fire.
“I can leave but they won’t let me back so I’m just kind of hanging out here”, he said, noting he was not in danger.
More than 1,200 firefighters were battling the fire which was only 5 percent contained, according to tracking website InciWeb.gov. Investigators are seeking to determine what sparked it on Wednesday in Los Padres National Forest.
For a second night, a freeway, USA 101, was closed in the area.
There has been a mandatory evacuation order for several areas as the homes and ranches were still potentially at risk depending on the direction of the winds.
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In east-central Arizona, progress was made against a 15-square-mile blaze that broke out Wednesday south of Show Low.
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