A wind-driven brush fire that started late Monday afternoon near Highway 154 in Santa Barbara County moved quickly downhill, prompting mandatory evacuations and threatening homes.
The Cave fire started just after 4 p.m. near East Camino Cielo and Painted Cave Road in Los Padres National Forest and by 9 p.m. had grown to at least 3, 122 acres, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
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Within three hours of starting, the fire had burned down to the top of Cieneguitas Road near the San Marcos Foothills Preserve, according to Santa Barbara city’s Office of Emergency Services.
It initially moved into a few canyons and rapidly expanded as it was pushed south by 15 – mph down-canyon winds with 30 – mph gusts. By 7: 30 pm, the fire was spotting in front of itself and had started at least one spot fire near Highway 154 and Cathedral Oaks Road, said Mike Eliason, a public information officer with the department.
“As this fire gets pushed down canyon, it’s going to start getting closer to homes,” Eliason said.
As the fire grew, mutual aid started to arrive from developing counties to help local and national forest firefighters. The Ventura County Fire Department sent two strike teams, about 10 fire engines, Monday evening, and the L.A. County Fire Department sent a Firehawk helicopter, which is capable of performing nighttime water drops.
Engine teams were embedded in neighborhoods to defend homes in the fire’s path, and bulldozers and hand crews were at work throughout the night digging into the dirt to create containment lines around the perimeter of the blaze.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered for a large swath of land about five miles wide, including the area of Highway 154 east to Ontare Road and from Foothill Road to the top of Camino Cielo. An evacuation warning was issued for the area north of Foothill Road and from Ontare Road east to Gibraltar Road.
There was no information available Monday evening about whether any homes have burned, said Capt. Daniel Bertucelli, a Santa Barbara County Fire Department public information officer.
“We’re going to fight fire throughout the night, and tomorrow when the sun comes up, we’ll get a better understanding of what sort of damage we have, ”Bertucelli said.
Winds were expected to increase, especially at higher elevations, until about 1 am, with some areas of the Santa Ynez Mountains expected to see gusts of up to 65 mph, according to the weather service.
Bertucelli said as he was driving 55 mph down Highway 154 earlier in the evening, the fire was keeping up with him, growing alongside the roadway. Once he reached lower elevations, though, the wind was much lighter.
The fire burned through dense, old brush in an area thathasn’t burned since the Painted Cave fire in 1990. It was also dry Monday, with relative humidity reported at 14% in the hills where the fire was burning.
Meteorologists were forecasting a decrease in wind through the early morning hours Tuesday, and the area was expected to see rain Tuesday afternoon or evening.
“Hopefully Mother Nature will help us out tomorrow, ”Bertucelli said.
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