Santa Barbara County fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni says the danger to the facility is minimal Thursday. A third fire in the area also has burned about 100 acres, though the terrain is too steep to send in ground crews.
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The weather was expected to pose problems for crews in those states and California, where flames that ignited Wednesday afternoon chewed through almost 2 square miles of dry brush in an area that has not burned in some 70 years.
One family at the popular El Capitan State Beach made a decision to leave earlier Wednesday before campgrounds were evacuated.
No injuries or structural damage has been reported, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
As firefighters battled the flames along the freeway just south of Refugio Canyon, southbound motorists were funneled along Highway 246 through Buellton, Solvang and Santa Ynez.
It has charred about 12.5 square miles, including areas ignited by firefighters to deprive the fire of fuel.
Officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection received reports of smoke from across the region, including Idyllwild, Hemet and Cherry Valley.
By 5 p.m., it was estimated at about 20 acres and had grown to more than 1,100 acres by Thursday morning, with zero containment.
“The winds weren’t as bad, and the back-burns did exactly what we wanted them to do”, Navajo County Sheriff KC Clark said at a late afternoon news conference. Caltrans announced Thursday morning that Highway 101 had reopened.
In central New Mexico, firefighters struggled to make progress against a blaze that exploded to 25 square miles and forced residents of some small communities to flee after sending up a towering plume of smoke that blanketed the state’s largest city in a thick haze. Fires also had threatened homes in Nevada and Utah.
Heat and wind were expected to pose problems for crews in those states and California, where there was no containment of the almost 2-square-mile blaze outside Santa Barbara.
Officials say some structures have burned but crews are still entering an area near the community of Chilili to determine how many.
The center remained on standby Thursday unless needed, officials said, but 41 evacuees stayed at an evacuation shelter set up at the Wake Center on Turnpike Road in Santa Barbara.
About 50 horses were evacuated from a ranch and taken to a shelter that was set up at the county fairgrounds.
Fire crews said Thursday they’re concerned about the weather forecast that’s calling for northwest winds at 20 to 30 miles per hour with afternoon gusts of 40 miles per hour.
Weber and Associated Press writer John Antczak reported from Los Angeles.
The community was among those in Bernalillo and Torrance counties placed under a mandatory evacuation order as flames raced northeast.
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Heavy winds had pushed the flames close to an ExxonMobil crude oil facility Wednesday and forced the evacuation of hundreds of campers and a handful of rural homes.
