Crews make progress against home-threatening Western fires

Exxon Mobil is monitoring the fire; facility unharmed.

Much of the fire is burning in terrain too rugged for safe work on the ground, so crews have concentrated on clearing firelines along a highway, roads and a power line, said Rick Miller, the fire team’s operations section chief. Authorities had feared the fast-growing fire could destroy hundreds of homes in the area if the overnight winds kept it burning vigorously.

The 101 freeway will be closed again tonight, for the third night in a row.

Santa Barbara is about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Stay tuned. Tomorrow will be a hot day in Southern California. The blaze was 24 percent contained Saturday morning.

At about 3:21 p.m. on Wednesday, the Sherpa Fire broke out near the Gaviota coast, according to the United States Forest Service. Shifting winds could cause embers to cross the fire lines, authorities said.

No one has been killed or injured in the three-day-old fire, and no structures have been lost, officials said.

“With the real potential for additional evacuations… a need for the proclamation of local emergency is necessary”, 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr said at the press conference.

The county is home to a billion-dollar agriculture industry.

So far no serious injuries or damage have been reported.

“It’s straight up and down…we can’t put bulldozers in there”, Zaniboni said.

About 100 horses had also been evacuated to the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara because of the fire.

“We will see the winds each evening… right through Monday”, Boldt said, adding that temperatures are expected to heat up this weekend, with highs reaching into the 90s at the beaches and getting into the 100s inland starting on Saturday and continuing through Monday. “It’s a major industry in the county”.

Mandatory evacuations were in effect for the areas of Refugio Canyon, Las Flores, Venadito, El Capitan Campground, El Capitan State Park, Ocean Mesa at El Capitan State Park and Refugio Campground. A water treatment building at El Capitan state beach was destroyed.

More than 700 personnel were fighting the so-called Dog Head Fire that has burned through about 17,600 acres (7,125 hectares) of timber and logging zones in four days.

Firefighters battling an 11-square-mile blaze in California have caught a break from the weather – but it may not last.

Crews will continue working with aircraft, making fire retardant and water drops. “Crews made good progress over night establishing and reinforcing hand lines and dozer lines”.

Firefighters have so far contained about a quarter of the blaze, Santa Barbara County said on its Twitter. “There was a lot of fire around it during the night, but the structure protection was effective”.

Investigators are seeking to determine what sparked it on Wednesday in Los Padres National Forest.

Lighter winds helped firefighters battle the blaze in triple-digit temperatures.

Meanwhile, another fire erupted Friday afternoon in Northern California. “We do not want our residents to have a false sense of security”.

However, a small community in Navajo County remained evacuated and thousands of other residents were told to be prepared in case they had to leave.

Meanwhile in New Mexico, which is also bracing for a heatwave, governor Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency and ordered the national guard to prepare to help fight a blaze which has burned more than 16,000 acres and dozens of homes.