Sacramento Area Local News

GOLETA (CBS/AP) ― Firefighters were standing guard Wednesday evening to defend homes in Los Padres National Forest as 350-acre wildfire bore down on canyon homes and precipitated a power outage affecting thousands of people in Santa Barbara County.

The Gap Fire was creeping closer to 30 homes nestled between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the coast, Nicole Koon, a spokeswoman with the county emergency operations center said.

Salvador Ramirez, a construction worker from Goleta, said from the scene that the flames were about a mile north of the homes.

"The fire is really low on the hillside and there's spot fires everywhere. It's out of control," Ramirez, 39, told The Associated Press.

"All day long you could hear fire trucks and helicopters going to the fire," he said.

About 150,000 Southern California Edison customers were without power shortly after 7 p.m. when thick smoke interrupted a transmission line near the fire, utility spokeswoman Lois Pitter Bruce said. Power was restored to about half of the affected customers about an hour later.

Earlier during sunset, winds gusting up to 30 mph shifted and pushed the fire downhill and closer to homes. The area is subject to notorious "Sundowner" winds that blow down from the mountains toward the ocean.

Smoke from the Gap Fire was visible throughout much of the South Coast throughout the afternoon, as the flames consumed chaparral that hasn't burned in at least 50 years. County Fire Capt. Eli Iskow said the fire was "human caused" but did not elaborate.

More than 350 firefighters were battling the blaze with the assistance of Ventura County, Los Angeles, and U.S. Forest Service fire departments, Iskow said.

"That's a sign that we've got nothing extra," Iskow said, referring to stretched resources as firefighters battle more than 1,100 wildfires, mostly ignited by lightning, that have scorched 680 square miles and destroyed 60 homes and other buildings across northern and central California since June 20.

"All the departments in the state, across the entire West, are strapped," he said.

He said 45 people were ordered to leave their homes late Tuesday and about 200 homes were potentially at risk in Glenn Annie and La Patera canyons.

Authorities on Wednesday ordered most of the remaining residents of this scenic coastal community near the Big Sur fire to leave after the blaze jumped a fire line and threatened more homes.

New mandatory evacuation notices were issued Wednesday morning for an additional 16-mile stretch along Highway 1, bringing the total length of the evacuated area to about 31 miles of the coast, emergency officials said.

"The fire is just a big raging animal right now," said Darby Marshall, spokesman for the Monterey County Office of Emergency Services.

The massive blaze near Big Sur was one of more than 1,100 wildfires, mostly ignited by lightning, have scorched more then 770 square miles and destroyed 64 structures across northern and central California since June 20, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Sixteen homes and nearly 56,000 acres of the Los Padres National Forest have burned since the inferno near Big Sur was started by lightning on June 21. It remained only about 3 percent contained, and officials told evacuees at a public meeting Wednesday evening that they didn't expect full containment until the end of the month.

Along the Central Coast, authorities blocked access to popular resorts, restaurants, shops and art galleries that line the scenic Highway 1 and attract tourists from around the world. The new evacuation notice means that all of the roughly 850 residents who live along the Big Sur coast from Andrew Molera State Park to Limekiln State Park have been ordered to leave, Marshall said.

As flames raged in the hills above and ash fell from orange skies, evacuees in packed cars streamed north along the highway, the only major road out of Big Sur. Sheriff's deputies told residents they needed to leave the area by late afternoon.

Janna Fournier, a Big Sur resident for eight years, was heading back to her house to retrieve artwork and rescue her pet tarantula.

"I feel sad for the wilderness and the people who lost their homes," Fournier said. "We chose to live in a wilderness among all this beauty, so I know there's that chance you always take."

Helicopters hauling large containers of water droned loudly overhead as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, R. David Paulison, visited Big Sur on Wednesday.

"This is a very dangerous fire right now because of the wind and because of how dry things are and how early in the year it is," Paulison said in an interview. "If people evacuate like they're told to, we shouldn't lose any lives. ... My only concern is that people don't take it seriously enough."

Scott Parker, 58, a landscaper who moved to Big Sur 30 years ago, was one resident who decided to ride out the danger. He stopped by the local general store Wednesday afternoon as firefighters trimmed trees above the store to ward off flames snaking along the hillside a quarter-mile away.

"My wife and I are going to stay at least until we are in imminent danger. If there's a possibility of saving the house, then we're going to do it," Parker said. "We've had a couple close ones, but this is the closest."

Rosy Heart, 44, an artist who lives in a one-room treehouse with her dog, packed her paintings into the car, but said she had no plans to abandon her community.

"I'm just trying to let it pass and not get freaked because fire is a part of nature," she said.

Schwarzenegger announced an executive order that waives replacement fees for birth certificates, drivers' licenses and other critical documents that fire victims may have lost in blazes. The order also aims to accelerate debris removal and repair environmental damage by "cutting red tape."

A day earlier, he ordered 200 National Guard troops to report for fire training to begin assisting on fire lines early next week, boosting the nearly 19,000 personnel already on the ground -- the first time since 1977 that guardsmen were deployed for that purpose.

A fire in the southern extension of the Los Padres forest north of Santa Barbara also prompted mandatory evacuations as winds up to 35 mph pushed flames toward homes in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains.

Officials said the fire had burned 350 acres of rough terrain by Wednesday evening, forcing the evacuations of about 45 residents near the town of Goleta.

In the Sequoia National Forest east of Bakersfield, crews struggled to contain a 13,500-acre blaze. Powerful gusts and choking smoke traveling up the steep canyons hampered their progress, and residents of neighboring towns were ordered to evacuate.

Back in Big Sur, construction worker Billy Rose was helping clear brush around local businesses to protect the community he grew up in.

"Big Sur people are used to stress -- rock slides, water spouts, 40-foot waves, you get numb to it," he says, looking weary as he sharpened his chain saw to clear more brush. "You can't tame Big Sur -- this place is untamable."

Drought conditions, high temperatures and a series of lightning storms have contributed to about 680 square miles being scorched statewide by more than 1,100 separate fires in the past two weeks. The blazes have destroyed 60 homes and other buildings while threatening thousands more, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Raging wildfires, from the western edge of the Sierra Nevada to mountains near Big Sur, have created a smoky haze so stifling that some doctors in the San Joaquin Valley say their waiting rooms have been crowding with patients struggling to breathe.

In the Sequoia National Forest east of Bakersfield, crews struggled to contain a 8,200-acre blaze there. Powerful gusts and choking smoke traveling up the steep canyons hampered their progress, and residents of neighboring towns were ordered to evacuate.

Goleta is a city of about 55,000 people located about 8 miles northwest of Santa Barbara.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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