Los Angeles

Wet Air Puts Damper on Fire on California's Central Coast

All 900 people told to evacuate in the city of Lompoc on Friday afternoon were told they can return, Santa Barbara County fire spokesman Mike Eliason said.

A layer of cold, damp air has drifted in from the ocean and nearly smothered a trio of wildfires on California's Central Coast that were endangering homes and forcing evacuations just a few hours earlier.

All 900 people told to evacuate in the city of Lompoc on Friday afternoon were told they can return, Santa Barbara County fire spokesman Mike Eliason said.

"Thing have died down considerably," he said. "We're feeling really optimistic that we can put this thing to bed tonight.

The blazes are 10 percent contained, but even inside the fire lines there is no visible flame in several places, Eliason said.

Earlier, a half-dozen small fires that erupted along a road merged into the three blazes that burned 300 acres of thick manzanita, chaparral, grass and oak, Eliason said.

Winds pushed the flames close to Lompoc neighborhoods, threatening about 199 homes, and about 900 people were told to evacuate, he said. The historic La Purisima Mission, founded in 1787, was threatened and evacuated.

By evening, however, the winds had eased and a marine layer of cooler, wetter air was arriving. Flames that had crept close to homes and sent fiery embers into backyards had vanished from many stretches of the 600-acre fire, he said.

About 270 firefighters and 11 aircraft fought the blaze. Neighborhoods were doused with colorful fire retardant from the air.

"Some of the houses are completely red; the houses, the cars, the roads, everything is painted Phos-Chek red," Eliason said, referring to the fire retardant.

One shed was damaged, vegetation in the gutters of one home burned, and smoke drifted into a house with open windows, but there were no significant damages from the fires, Eliason said.

There was no immediate word on what caused the fires, although the California Highway Patrol indicated it was investigating whether a car dragging a chain might have sparked them.

Meanwhile, a Southern California fire that damaged four homes earlier in the week was 75 percent contained Friday.

The Canyon Fire that erupted Monday along the border between Corona and Anaheim turned 2,600 acres — about four square miles — of land to ash.

Firefighters managed to protect nearly 2,000 homes as the blaze shifted in unpredictable winds southeast of Los Angeles.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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