Weather threatens Calif. fire gains
LOS ANGELES (AP) - July 8, 2008 More than 2,000 residents were allowed to return to their homes
in Goleta, about 85 miles northwest of Los Angeles, said Roger
Aceves, the city's mayor pro tem. Five fresh crews from Arizona and
New Mexico, totaling 100 firefighters, were brought in Monday to
help battle the 15-square-mile blaze.
Firefighters had contained 35 percent of the fire in the Los
Padres National Forest that is threatening the city, mainly on its
southern side bordering neighborhoods.
But some mandatory evacuation orders and warnings to be ready to
leave remained in effect for scattered homes on the fire's growing
western flank on the Santa Ynez Mountains, Aceves said.
"We know what can happen," Aceves said. "This is brush that
hasn't burned since 1955."
About 36,000 customers in the Santa Barbara County lost power
around 8 p.m., said Southern California Edison spokeswoman Nancy
Williams. Nearly all had their power restored within an hour, she
said. It was at least the sixth straight day that transmission
lines have been affected by flames and smoke.
Officials responsible for the 125-square-mile blaze near Big Sur
and the 40-square-mile Piute fire in the Sequoia National Forest
east of Bakersfield said those blazes won't be controlled for at
least another two weeks.
Mike Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in
Sacramento, said that over the next couple of days, California's
coastal regions would get warmer temperatures and offshore breezes
that would keep moist marine air from coming inland.
Wildfires have blackened more than 800 square miles and
destroyed at least 69 homes throughout California, mainly in the
northern part of the state, in the past two weeks. One firefighter
died of a heart attack.
Fire officials said they don't expect the fires near Big Sur or
Piute to be controlled for at least another two weeks.
The Big Sur fire, which is 18 percent contained, was burning
through the remote Ventana Wilderness, where difficult access has
made it hard to build containment lines, said Jim Turner, spokesman
for the U.S. Forest Service.
A mandatory evacuation remained in effect for all residents of
Big Sur. Firefighters were struggling to widen fire lines near the
Pacific Coast Highway and residential areas to between 300 feet and
a quarter mile, Turner said.
Crews secured a Boy Scout camp near Big Sur on Monday by burning
out brush between the buildings and the wildfire's edge and were
setting controlled fires elsewhere to halt the blaze's march, the
Forest Service said.
The Piute fire was 26 percent contained. Wind caused the fire to
jump containment lines Monday. Air tankers and helicopters dumped
flame retardant.
"The steep challenging terrain makes it tough to work
directly," said Bob Kurilla, Piute fire spokesman. "It will take
a little while, but we're making progress."
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Associated Press writers Juliana Barbassa and Raquel Maria
Dillon contributed to this report.