SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Firefighters continued to battle a 1,300-acre wildfire in Santa Barbara on Thursday as they braced for “sundowner” winds that could fan the flames into downtown.
Thousands of residents remained displaced from their hillside homes as firefighters struggled to gain the upper hand on the wind-driven blaze. There was no containment of the fire, officials said.
“The Jesusita fire has been a great challenge, there’s no two ways about it,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said at a news conference in Santa Barbara.
Schwarzenegger said “dozens” of homes were lost in the fast-moving brush fire that is burning so fiercely that fire authorities cannot determine how many homes have been destroyed.
Nearly 1,400 fire personnel are working the blaze, which is named for a nearby trail, said Capt. Mike Deponce of the Santa Barbara City Fire Department. He said most of the residents living in the foothills have evacuated.
“It’s pretty desolate up there right now,” he said Thursday.
The National Weather Service issued a high-wind warning for the Santa Barbara coastal area, predicting winds of 40 to 58 mph at times through this morning. Gusts could reach 65 mph.
At least 13,575 people have been driven from their homes.
Officials said three veteran Ventura County firefighters injured fighting the blaze Wednesday are suffering from second- and third-degree burns and smoke inhalation. Their conditions were upgraded Thursday from stable to good.
Ten firefighters in all have been hurt in the fire, most of them with minor injuries, officials said.
In the Santa Barbara foothills Thursday, resident Howard Schiffer said his home was probably a total loss. Although he had not seen it, friends who witnessed the destruction in the Mission Canyon area reported the worst.
Last week, Schiffer was in a refugee camp in Kenya, handing out nutritional supplements for a group he started in 1994 called Vitamin Angels Alliance.
“These people had nothing at all,” he said. “They had no resources. They were sick. They had to deal with losing their homes to violence and hate — which, I believe, is tougher than losing one to a natural disaster. We’re OK.”
The jobs of firefighters, air tankers and helicopters have been hampered by poor access to the mountainous terrain, as well as winds of up to 50 mph and dense brush that had not burned in half a century.
The Jesusita fire is the city’s third major wildfire in nine months.
The fire broke out Tuesday in wildlands and spread through brush north of the city. For most of Tuesday and early Wednesday, the fire seemed relatively tame. Then, Wednesday afternoon, the notorious sundowners, typical for Santa Barbara this time of year, whipped down through passes and canyons above the city.
Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County.
