LOS ANGELES, May 28 (Reuters) – A California wildfire that
started on Monday at a campground in the foothills above Santa
Barbara grew to 1,800 acres on Tuesday, but some 50 homes that
had been threatened by the flames were no longer in danger,
officials said.
The so-called White Fire, named after the White Rock Day Use
camping area in the Los Padres National Forest where it flared
up Monday afternoon, forced more than 4,000 campers and day use
visitors to evacuate ahead of the flames.
At least 50 homes, many of them mountain cabins, were also
evacuated after they were threatened by the blaze, but U.S.
Forest Service spokesman Manuel Madrigal said those orders would
likely be lifted by evening.
“The winds are still not in our favor but it’s going okay. I
was just out on the fire lines and there wasn’t any major
burning activity,” Madrigal said.
Madrigal said the fire had been driven by the strong winds
and was burning dry chaparral, grass, brush and oak trees some
six miles inland from Santa Barbara.
More than 560 firefighters were battling the blaze, which
sent thick smoke over Santa Barbara, a city of more than 200,000
people about 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Madrigal said campgrounds would remain closed and that the
cause of the fire was under investigation.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Bob
Burgdorfer)
