Weary California fire-fighters braced for another heat wave in
the next few days as they battled to bring two major blazes
threatening towns along the central coast under control.
Residents in more than 2,600 homes in the path of a 3.642 hectares
fire in the Santa Barbara area were still under evacuation
orders.
Families who live in another 850 houses were warned to be ready
to leave at short notice, county officials said.
Cooler weather on Saturday helped fire crews make some headway
against a six-day old fire raging in rugged terrain near the small
town of Goleta, about 13 kms from Santa Barbara.
But with the fire only 28% contained, temperatures rose and
humidity dropped on Sunday ahead of what forecasters warned would
be another heat wave ahead with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees
F in many areas.
"Any time temperatures increase and relative humidity goes down,
the fuels get drier and you have a more combustible situation.
There is a lot of concern for fire-fighter safety," said Karen
McKinley, spokeswoman for the National Forest Service.
"We've got increased temperatures and increased winds today.
Canyons and passes tend to channel winds, so what could happen is
that the winds could channel the fire down San Marco pass and that
would hit Goleta and Santa Barbara," she said.
The blaze near Goleta is one of more than 1,700 to hit central and
northern California since June 21, destroying at least 69 homes,
charring 210,000 hectares and killing one fire-fighter, California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Saturday.
Most were caused by lightning strikes and have been contained, but
about 330 are still burning.
Further north, a fire raging along the spectacular Big Sur coast,
about 225 km south of San Francisco, continued to threaten nearly
1,700 homes.
Flames have consumed more than 29,000 hectares in the past two
weeks and mandatory evacuations are in effect.
Fire crews have managed to defend the village of Big Sur but the
fire is only 11% contained and is expected to rage until the end of
July, fire officials said.
