SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — After two nights of evening "sundowner” gusts that turned a brush fire into a blaze devouring the mountain edges of this serene coastal enclave, the fate of hundreds or even thousands of homes depended on which way the wind blew Friday night.
A return of the notorious mountain winds could again spit fire downslope into Santa Barbara and its neighboring communities. A push from the opposite direction would bathe the charred landscape in cool, moist, fire-suppressing air from the Pacific Ocean.
Sundowners are "a ticking time bomb,” said local mortgage broker Joel Maloney. "You just wait and see how hard they blow.”
Most of Santa Barbara on the mountain side of the Pacific Coast Highway had some level of risk, with about 30,500 people ordered to evacuate and 23,000 others warned to be ready to flee.
Columns of smoke rose off the Santa Ynez Mountains as the 4-day-old blaze blew up from 2,700 acres to 3,500 in less than a day, creating a firefighting front five miles long.
"Literally last night, all hell broke loose,” Santa Barbara Fire Chief Andrew DiMizio said Friday morning, recounting firefighters’ efforts to put out roof fires and keep flames out of his section of the city.
The Santa Barbara area has long been a favorite of celebrities. Oprah Winfrey has an estate in Montecito. And a ranch in the mountains that Ronald and Nancy Reagan bought became his Western retreat during his presidency.
by the associated press
A return of the notorious mountain winds could again spit fire downslope into Santa Barbara and its neighboring communities. A push from the opposite direction would bathe the charred landscape in cool, moist, fire-suppressing air from the Pacific Ocean.
Sundowners are "a ticking time bomb,” said local mortgage broker Joel Maloney. "You just wait and see how hard they blow.”
Most of Santa Barbara on the mountain side of the Pacific Coast Highway had some level of risk, with about 30,500 people ordered to evacuate and 23,000 others warned to be ready to flee.
Columns of smoke rose off the Santa Ynez Mountains as the 4-day-old blaze blew up from 2,700 acres to 3,500 in less than a day, creating a firefighting front five miles long.
"Literally last night, all hell broke loose,” Santa Barbara Fire Chief Andrew DiMizio said Friday morning, recounting firefighters’ efforts to put out roof fires and keep flames out of his section of the city.
The Santa Barbara area has long been a favorite of celebrities. Oprah Winfrey has an estate in Montecito. And a ranch in the mountains that Ronald and Nancy Reagan bought became his Western retreat during his presidency.
by the associated press
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