GOLETA â A wildfire burning Tuesday on Southern California mountains north of Santa Barbara forced as many as 6,300 people from their homes, but an approaching storm offered hope that the flames would be doused, authorities said.
The fire was a threat to an estimated 2,400 structures, Santa Barbara County fire spokesman Mike Eliason told KEYT-TV.
The National Weather Service said rain was expected to reach the area by midnight.
The fire started at about 4 p.m. Monday in Los Padres National Forest as winds gusted up to 30 mph.
By Tuesday morning it was estimated at more than 4,100 acres with no containment. No homes had been lost and there were no injuries, Eliason tweeted.
SBCFireInfo on Twitter CaveFire- UPDATE- 4,100 acres with 0% containment. 600 firefighters assigned. No structures (homes) destroyed & no injuries.
The fire was mainly burning through dry, brushy canyons and ridges of the Santa Ynez Mountains, but evacuations were ordered in populated foothill areas.
Roger Svenson and his wife were parked in their camper van at a Red Cross excavation site in Goleta. He said theyâve had to flee from fires at least five times in the past decade.
“I saw it coming down the hill,” Roger Svenson said. “After it got dark it was pretty obvious what what going on flames were over the ridge and coming down the hill fast.”
A 1990 wildfire in the same area destroyed more than 400 homes.
Firefighters were told during a morning briefing that the area had not received any rain in 180 days and vegetation was ready to burn, as was demonstrated by the fireâs exponential growth in its early hours.
The firefighters were cautioned that roads into the rugged area may be too narrow for their engines, and that many residents had not left.
Santa Barbara County Fire Battalion Chief Patrick Byde said he expects the next 48 hours will be challenging.
“Weâre expecting a weather front to come and the winds in front of those fronts can be pretty unpredictable and erratic,” Byde said.
The arrival of an expected low pressure system and its accompanying rain also posed hazards ranging from shifting winds to debris flows from steep mountainsides, the firefighters were told.
As much as an inch of rain was expected in the area, and crews were warned to not drive across flowing water.
The dangers of the cycle of fire and flood is a raw memory in the region.
In January 2018, a downpour on recently burned slopes just east of Santa Barbara unleashed massive debris flows that devastated the community of Montecito, destroying homes and killing 23 people.
Reporting from Tyler Pratt for The California Report was used in this post.
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