Firefighters Struggle to Contain Calif. Blaze

Firefighters Struggle to Contain Calif. Blaze
By REBECCA CATHCART
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: May 8, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/us/09fire.html?hp


SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — A wildfire on the hills near this oceanside city raged through Thursday night, when the winds gusted up to 60 miles an hour, and was still only 10 percent contained early Friday morning, with 3,500 acres burned, about 30,000 people evacuated and 75 houses destroyed.

Steve Johnson, a U.S. Forest Service firefighter, monitored the fire overnight.

“This fire has been very erratic,” said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire, known as Calfire.

In a telephone interview on Friday, Mr. Berlant said the progress firefighters make during the day is often eradicated by the dry, windy conditions at night. “The sundowner winds at night pose the biggest challenge,” he said.

“Today we’re looking at the same type of weather,” he added. “Warm temperatures in the day time, possible high predicted winds at night.”

The evacuations from the area, which is known for its sprawling mansions and ocean views, have expanded “east of the fire, into the Montecito area,” said Richard Morgantini, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s office. A mandatory evacuation order was in effect for about seven square miles from the Santa Ynez foothills to just outside downtown Santa Barbara, the police said. Hotels in the area were near capacity, with families unable to return to their homes. And firefighters continued their struggle to pen in the flames, which began on Tuesday. “Firefighters have been building lines in pieces around the perimeter,” said Mike Carr, another Calfire spokesman, on Thursday. “ Now they are working to connect the dots.”

At a news conference here Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that the state’s budget woes would not affect efforts to fight the fire but that the blaze presented a “great challenge.”

“Seventy-five percent of the response cost” would be covered by the federal government, Mr. Schwarzenegger said, after his declaration of a state of emergency on Wednesday.

“This is very, very helpful for us,” he said, “because, as you know, we have a financial crisis in California. But I want to reassure you all that even though we have this crisis, we will not be short of money when it comes to fighting this fire.”

More than 9,000 elementary and high school students were evacuated from schools in the county on Thursday, said Barbara Keyani, a spokeswoman for Santa Barbara’s two largest school districts. Ms. Keyani said 12 schools remained closed.

Ten firefighters have been injured, officials said, although most of the injuries were minor. No injuries were reported among evacuees.

At 2 a.m. Thursday, as the winds that had fanned flames rapidly Wednesday afternoon slowed to fitful gusts, a few hundred firefighters slept between shifts in trucks and tents at the city fairgrounds. Sixty or so lay in sleeping bags scattered like blue cocoons over the trim lawn near their command post.

The air smelled of acidic, sweet wood smoke, and ash flakes fluttered to the ground. Crews from across Southern California had come to assist, said Capt. David Sadecki of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

Geege Ostroff, 65, walking out of a Red Cross shelter in a high school down the road, said he and his wife, Carole, decided to evacuate ahead of orders on Tuesday, when they saw smoke plumes and orange flames near their home at the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens, where he is a caretaker.

“We knew that with the winds what they were, this would grow,” Mr. Ostroff said.

He said he was sure his house had burned.

“Sometimes I think it’s there,” he said, as he held his hat in a gust of wind, “then I realize it’s gone. I miss the stupidest things now, like my coffee grinder. I want to be home.”

Liz Robbins contributed reporting from New York.