Cave Fire Breaks Out Near Santa Barbara, Prompting Evacuations and Threatening Homes
- by Lorene Schwartz
- in People
- — Nov 28, 2019
Most of the almost 5,500 people who were ordered to evacuate on Monday are being allowed home.
By late Monday, Santa Barbara County officials had declared a local emergency, asking for outside assistance and noting that "these conditions are beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment and facilities of the combined forces of the county's Operational Area to combat".
"Up on a hill, behind my home, there is a golf course, and I could see (the fire) coming down the hill", Svensson said.
Spherical 128,285 acres (51,915 hectares) beget been blackened by California wildfires from January 1 to November 24.
The fire erupted Monday afternoon in Los Padres National Forest and has grown to about 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares).
Indeed, recent research lays out evidence that California will experience a shorter, more concentrated rain season, with more rain between December and February, but less during the fall and spring, as Mashable explained previous year. According to county officials: "Outages have been reported in unincorporated areas between the cities of Goleta and Santa Barbara, along Highway 154 through Mission Canyon, and parts of Summerland and Carpinteria".
"It has been slightly the firefight, now we beget had winds fascinating up slope, down slope, all around the slope", acknowledged Anthony Stornetta, of the Santa Barbara County Fire Division (SBCFD), praising residents for having created firebreaks round properties.
French soldiers killed as two helicopters collide in Mali
France has deployed some 4,500 French troops in West Africa's Sahel region to combat extremist rebels and restore security there. It's the "heaviest single loss for the French military in almost four decades", according to Agence France-Presse.
The fire was determined to be the result of arson, allegedly at the hands of a man named Leonard Ross who reportedly confessed to a girlfriend that he had started the fire to "burn out" a neighbor he had been feuding with.
Authorities advise residents in those areas to stay alert and "be prepared to evacuate if conditions change".
A Red Cross Evacuation Center has been established at Goleta Valley Community Center, 5679 Hollister Road.
Small animals can be taken to Goleta Animal Shelter at 5473 Overpass Road. As the wind is strong, the fire is also spreading rapidly.
The fire began in Los Padres National Forest as winds gusted to 30 miles per hour (48 kph) and higher.
A lengthy stretch of Highway 154, as well as numerous public surface roadways, have been closed. The 101 Freeway is being used as an alternative route, so expect even heavier holiday traffic through the region. The Cave fire broke out just after 4 p.m. Monday near East Camino Cielo and Painted Cave Road in the Los Padres National Forest. The "Cave Fire" jumped a highway near the Santa Barbara city limits, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Helicopters dropped water on the fire during the night, and daylight allowed air tankers to drop long strips of fire retardant to box in the flames.
