Sherpa Fire In Santa Barbara County 45 Percent Contained; High Winds Feared Overnight
GOLETA (CBS/AP) -- A four-day-old brush fire that threatens coastal homes in Santa Barbara County was 45 percent contained by midday Saturday.
Fire officials said they were able to nail down the west side of the Sherpa Fire, west of Santa Barbara, on Friday night after 40-mph "sundowner" winds failed to materialize.
Those evening and night gusts had driven the flames through steep, brushy canyons on previous nights and forced closure of Highway 101.
No homes had burned, but about 270 homes and ranches remain at risk and campgrounds and canyons remained evacuated.
Fire officials said the big issue Saturday remained the virtually inaccessible nature of the fire's active eastern side.
Aircraft dumped water and fire crews worked to cut firebreaks in advance of the flames before the sundowner winds return Saturday night.
The fire began Wednesday. More than 1,200 firefighters were on the scene.
Another fire erupted Friday afternoon in Northern California. The wind-driven blaze southwest of Sacramento quickly burned 200 acres of grasslands and prompted the evacuation of China Gulch, a tiny community in the historic Gold Country.
By Friday evening, though, that fire's forward movement had been stopped.
The Sherpa Fire appeared to support national wildfire authorities' predictions of another dangerous and difficult year for the state after years of drought. State firefighters and the U.S. Forest Service already have fought more than 1,800 wildfires since Jan. 1, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
While El Nino delivered rain and snow to Northern California this winter, the south was bypassed. What rain fell was just enough to sprout grasses that quickly died, adding to the danger of long-dead vegetation.
"It is ominous," Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Eric Peterson told a press conference.
About 270 homes and ranches were considered at risk in southern Santa Barbara County at the foot of the rugged Santa Ynez Mountains, an east-west trending range that parallels the south-facing coast.
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