LOS ANGELES — Firefighters toiled in stifling heat Saturday on the lines of destructive wildfires across Southern California and the West, making progress against some blazes while struggling to tame others that have forced evacuations of hundreds of homes. In heat-stricken Southern California, powerful winds that sent an overnight inferno hopscotching through the Santa Barbara County community of Goleta calmed in the morning, allowing firefighters to extinguish smoldering ruins of an estimated 20 structures, including homes. Later Saturday, authorities announced that mandatory evacuation orders were being greatly reduced and many of the 2,500 people who fled Friday night would be able to return home. County Fire Chief Eric Peterson thanked residents for heeding the call to evacuate, allowing firefighters to focus on fire suppression rather than rescues. “There very likely would have been fatalities last night had those evacuations not occurred,” Peterson said. The fire’s spread was stopped at about 100 acres in a neighborhood where some houses were in ruins while homes next door were intact. Eric Durtschi stood outside his destroyed house, where a burned-out car stood in the driveway and kids’ bicycles were strewn about. Durtschi, his wife and six children had left Utah and moved in just a few weeks ago. He said he hadn’t yet told his two oldest children their home was gone. Now Playing: As fires blaze across Northern California with varying degrees of containment and dry and windy weather conditions, Cal Fire Information Officer Heather Williams explains fire containment over the phone on July 2, 2018. Video: San Francisco Chronicle Also in Southern California, firefighters increased containment of a central San Diego County fire that rapidly spread over 400 acres and destroyed 18 structures, and a wildfire in the San Bernardino National Forest was holding at 1.5 square miles. It forced the evacuation of about 700 homes in the mountain community of Forest Falls. Fires also burned on the Marine Corps’ sprawling Camp Pendleton base in northern San Diego County. Among new fires Saturday, a blaze erupted on a steep mountain slope just above the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank and helicopters soaked it with water to try to keep it from growing. Southern California fires began erupting Friday as strong high pressure over the West spawned an epic heat wave that saw parts of Los Angeles broil in temperatures up to 117 degrees. Forecasters said the region’s siege of heat would gradually ease through the weekend. In Utah, meanwhile, authorities allowed the return of some residents who fled a wildfire near a popular fishing lake 80 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. The blaze has burned about 75 square miles and destroyed 90 structures, including homes, cabins, sheds and garages, since starting last Sunday. In Colorado, firefighters took advantage of occasional rainstorms to extend their containment lines at several large fires. In the south, crews Saturday contained about 45 percent of a 167-square-mile fire that has destroyed more than 130 homes, while in Rocky Mountain ski country firefighters from 20 states were battling an 8-square-mile wildfire above the Roaring Fork Valley. Commanders said they hoped for one-third containment by late Sunday. Crews also had 50 percent containment of a southwestern Colorado fire that has blackened 85 square miles north of Durango. John Antczak is an Associated Press writer.<doc-sep>The Santa Barbara County declared a local emergency for the destructive Holiday Fire, which has damaged or destroyed at least 20 structures and was continuing to burn in the hills above Goleta on Saturday. “The Holiday Fire is causing conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the county of Santa Barbara,” the declaration said. “These conditions are beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment and facilities of the combined forces of Santa Barbara County Operational Area to combat.” Gov. Jerry Brown also declared a state of emergency for Santa Barbara County due to the fire, and Goleta declared a local emergency. As of 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the fire had blackened an estimated 100 acres and was 80-percent contained, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. No injuries have been reported, and the cause of the blaze was listed as "unknown." Mutual-aid firefighters from local cities and other counties continues to pour into the area, and daylight allows more aircraft to join the effort. Mandatory evacuations orders remained in effect Saturday afternoon for the area between Cathedral Oaks Road and West Camino Cielo Road, and between La Patera Lane and North Patterson Avenue, according to the Sheriff’s Department. An estimated 2,500 people were affected by the evacuation order. Evacuation orders will remain in effect until further notice, authorities said. The blaze started at about 8:45 p.m. Friday when, according to county officials, a structure fire on Holiday Hill Road spread to the vegetation and burned along North Fairview Avenue. The specific cause of the blaze has not been identified. An evacuation center is available at the Goleta Valley Community Center, at 5679 Hollister Ave., and small pets can be taken there as well. Large animals can be evacuated to the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara, 3400 Calle Real, and small animals can be taken to the County Animal Shelter at 5473 Overpass Road in Goleta. Roadway closures in the area of the fire were implemented to keep people out of the way of firefighters, and the California Highway Patrol said Saturday that “all roads northbound from La Patera Lane to Patterson Avenue along Cathedral Oaks Road are closed to the public.” The Goleta area is expected to hit high temperatures again Saturday, with a forecast to peak around 93 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. A Red Flag Warning, denoting extreme fire-weather danger, expired at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network evacuated animals from its facility at 1460 North Fairview Ave. late Friday night, the organization said in a Facebook post. “Thanks to some very brave staff and animal control, we have many birds with us now from baby bird room and pelican pools. We had to evacuate, Fairview Road is on fire and winds are very intense. Thought and prayers to our community, firefighters, and animals! !” “From the last report, the center has been burned around the edges, but our facility is still standing. We are so grateful, knowing many of our amazing neighbors have not been as lucky. Still, we have to be evacuated and are still very concerned for the area,” the group wrote on its Facebook page Saturday morning. Staff set up a temporary base at the Santa Barbara Humane Society at 5399 Overpass Road and animals were being evacuated to multiple locations, and the center asked for volunteers, donations and supplies. The Humane Society was housing evacuated animals including more than 100 birds, 10 chickens, three goats, some rabbits, a tortoise, dogs and cats as of Saturday morning, the agency said. Most of the birds came from the Santa Barbara Wildfire Care Network, according to the Humane Society. For fire information, residents can call 2-1-1 or text their zip code to 898.211. Anyone located outside the 805 area code can call 800.400.1572. Click here to sign up for Santa Barbara County Aware & Prepare emergency alerts. Click here to receive Noozhawk breaking news text alerts on your cell phone. The fire is burning in unincorporated areas as of Saturday morning, but the City of Goleta is posting updates on its Facebook page and residents can sign up for city emergency alerts here. The Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District monitors daily air quality and reported conditions that were “unhealthy for sensitive groups” in Goleta as of 9 a.m. Saturday, and “moderate” conditions in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Lompoc as of Saturday morning. Click here for the latest air quality conditions. — Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at . (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.<doc-sep>Carrie Givens heard the ferocious winds pick up Friday night, went outside and saw the flames quickly approaching. “I said, ‘We gotta get out of here,’ ” said Givens, 63. She and her husband, John, corralled five cats, and she grabbed a change of clothes, her passport, computer, camera and a pastel painting she had started. She had to leave behind finished paintings, her late mother’s ashes and baby photos of her three children. The couple fled, but the four-bedroom, split-level house they’d lived in for a quarter of a century, built into a hillside overlooking their 10-acre organic vegetable farm, quickly disappeared into the firestorm. Advertisement It was another weekend of terror and loss in Santa Barbara County, which has endured more than its share of calamity in recent months. The Givens’ home was among several structures destroyed in the hills above Goleta on Friday night and Saturday morning when a record heat wave and dangerous winds combined to fuel the Holiday fire. No deaths or major injuries were reported, officials said. It was the perhaps the most destructive of several blazes that broke out across Southern California amid oppressive heat that set temperature records for the day. Santa Barbara has a long history of natural disaster, particularly brush fires. But the last year has been staggering. In December, the Thomas fire, the largest on record in California, ripped through Montecito, Carpinteria and other coastal cities, destroying more than 1,000 structures. Then in January, mudslides in the same area killed 21 people and destroyed more than 100 homes. The mudslides alone resulted in property damage claims of more than $421 million. The ever-present threats to homes and lives and the frightening evacuation alerts are becoming all too familiar, said Santa Barbara County Supervisor Janet Wolf, who lost her home during the Painted Cave fire of 1990. She’s had to evacuate twice since. “Unfortunately it is an occurrence that we have become very used to,” she said. “But that doesn’t take away from the trauma and the fear that people experience.” The situation Friday night was especially terrifying and fast developing, fire officials said. When the Holiday fire broke out after 8 p.m., the temperature in Goleta was still 100 degrees. Then the sundowner winds picked up, a scenario that over the decades has spread many of Santa Barbara County’s most destructive fires. Advertisement “I’m convinced with that quickly advancing flame front, we would have had fatalities last night,” Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Eric Peterson said. “This scene has been repeated far too many times in our county over the last few years, and all of our hearts go out to those people who have lost everything.” In January, very different extreme conditions became deadly. Intense downpours that far exceeded the forecast created massive debris flows in Montecito, a coastal town east of Goleta, burying homes and cars under mud and boulders. By Saturday night, the 400-acre Holiday fire was 80% contained. To the south in San Diego County, a fire in the Alpine area that destroyed 18 structures was 30% contained after burning about 400 acres. Advertisement The largest fire burning in the state was just south of the Oregon border, where it scorched 21,803 acres and destroyed 15 structures, with only 5% containment. One death has been attributed to the fire, but few details were immediately available. As the heat wave eased slightly Saturday, residents in Goleta surveyed the destruction. Eric Durtschi, 42, bent down and picked up the metal bones of three vintage rifles amid the charred remains of his rented hilltop home on Cuesta Verde. “This one’s the 1873 Winchester,” he said, studying one of them before turning to another. “This is my grandfather’s right here.” Advertisement Durtschi, his wife and their six children moved into the house two weeks ago and hadn’t yet arranged for rental insurance. The family had relocated from Utah after the school year. On Friday, two friends from Utah and their three children were visiting when Durtschi’s daughter smelled smoke shortly before 9 p.m. Durtschi walked outside and saw smoke everywhere. He ordered family members to leave, while he and his friend grabbed his father’s guitar and some other keepsakes. “When we came out, there were fist-sized embers falling all over the place,” he said. Advertisement The family stayed the night with friends. Then Durtschi went to Santa Barbara to pick up his two oldest sons, who had been with a church youth group all week and didn’t know what had happened. “I need to come up with a plan and be strong so the kids aren’t more scared than they already are,” he said. “I had no idea the flames could go that fast.” As with many fires, the flames hopscotched neighborhoods in unpredictable patterns, leaving some structures untouched, others burned to the ground. The destruction could have been worse when winds picked up at sundown Friday. But firefighters had been forewarned by a National Weather Service advisory and were already deployed, ready to go into action quickly. Advertisement Peterson, the Santa Barbara County fire chief, commended residents for quickly evacuating their homes. Many fled without being warned, after noticing the wind pick up or smelling smoke. Officials were reluctant late Saturday to verify an early estimate by officials of 20 structures destroyed, calling it guesswork at this stage. The American Red Cross set up a shelter for evacuees at the Goleta Valley Community Center. Sixty-one people stayed overnight, said spokeswoman Cindy Huge. Most were over 65; a few were children. By Saturday afternoon, only a handful remained. Late Saturday, mandatory evacuations still were in effect for 600 people, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said. He advised residents to keep cellphones fully charged and be ready to leave again if conditions change. Advertisement The temperature in Goleta reached 102 degrees Friday and 105 degrees Saturday, but was expected to drop 20 degrees Sunday. Record temperatures Friday and Saturday contributed to extreme fire conditions throughout the region, although higher humidity in some areas Saturday also led to a few showers and thunderstorms.<doc-sep>There are 36 large fires in 11 states across the West. Three dozen large fires continue to burn in 11 states across the West on Saturday as dry air and hot temperatures have settled in. Gusty northern winds of up to 45 mph are expected in the Santa Monica mountain region, Santa Clarita Valley, Santa Barbara south coast and San Fernando Valley on Saturday. Relative humidity is as low as 7 percent today in Southern California. The Holiday fire in Goleta, California, north of Santa Barbara, grew rapidly overnight and is now at a size of 100 acres. The Santa Barbara Fire Department said multiple structures had burned and 50 to 100 homes were threatened. Santa Barbara County Fire spokesperson Mike Eliason shared multiple photos and videos on Twitter showing homes engulfed in flames. At least 2,200 people were evacuated in the Goleta area, officials said. Farther south, the West fire, just north of San Diego, was at 400 acres and only 5 percent contained as of 10 p.m. local time Friday. Evacuations and road closures were in place in that area as well. California's record heat There were four record highs set in Southern California on Friday, including Riverside (118 degrees), Van Nuys Airport (117 degrees), Burbank Airport (114 degrees) and University of California-Los Angeles (111 degrees). Downtown Los Angeles reached a daily record high of 108 degrees. Heat alerts are in effect through 9 p.m. local time Saturday night for southwestern California as another hot day is on the horizon. Southern California will see some relief by the end of the weekend as the heat migrates east toward the Four Corners region.<doc-sep>
At least seven wildfires are currently active in the state of California, prompting Governor Jerry Brown to declare a State of Emergency Saturday for for Santa Barbara County. Earlier this week Brown did the same for Siskiyou and San Diego counties. Brown said he issued a State of Emergency because, "This fire has destroyed homes and continues to threaten additional homes and other structures, necessitating the evacuation of thousands of residents and," his emergency proclamation read. "This fire has caused power outages, forced the closure of roadways, and continues to threaten critical infrastructure." At least one person has died as a result of the California wildfires. Unless otherwise specified, all information and official updates have been aggregated from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and the federal government's Incident Information System (INCIWeb). Siskiyou County saw 15 structures destroyed since a fire burned what was last reported to be 21, 803 acred burned in the area. Officials contained five percent of the fire and a small segment of the fire broke off into Oregon. 1,083 personnel have been on the scene since the fire began Thursday afternoon, and officials think there are high chances the forest will spread into nearby Forest Zones. Evacuated areas include the communities of Hornbrook, Hilt, Irongate Reservoir, Iron Gate Estate, and residents straddling the northern state line of California and Oregon. Earlier coverage of the Klamathon fire can be found here. A two-week long fire in Lake County is now 95 percent contained, and evacuations were lifted by the Sheriff on Wednesday. Resources are staying throughout the day on Saturday to maintain control of the area. Started last Saturday and burning approximately 88,375 acres, a Saturday morning update from Cal Fire reported almost half of the fire was contained. A portion of State Highway 16 has been closed between Rumsey Hall and State Highway 20. Residents west of the highway, north of County Road, and South of the Yolo County line have been asked to evacuate the area. Firefighters are battling a 100 acre fire off Irish Hill Road and Carbondale Road, north of Ione (Amador County). #IrishFire https://t.co/EFa9WN11wt pic.twitter.com/hkxLuenfKz — CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) July 6, 2018 A fire slightly southeast of Sacramento is 50 percent contained since the area was ablaze Friday afternoon. Burning through 790 acres, evacuations thus far include only Willow Creek Ranch Estates. Holiday Fire 350 personnel have been assigned to address a fire that started Friday night, according to a tweet on Saturday morning from a Public Information Officer sharing information on the Santa Barbara County Fire. The fire has burned through 50 acres since officials have coordinated a Goleta Valley Community Center a safe place for people to evacuate, and was five percent contained on Saturday morning. The fire is taking place in what Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency across Santa Barbara County. Updated late Saturday morning, The Valley Fire started at approximately 1:30 PM on Friday. Currently zero percent contained, the fire is currently 1,000 acres in size and moving into the San Gorgino Wilderness. A smoke advisory has been issued by the issued by the Southern California Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD). Individuals were urged to immediately evacuate from the Alpine Oaks Estate to the Viejas Casino by San Diego County officials Friday night. So far the wildfire that started near midnight destroyed 18 structures and 400 acres of land. It was 18% contained based on an update on Saturday morning, and roads have remained closed as of Saturday afternoon.