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The weather was on the firefighters’ side, at least for a day
or two, and allowed them to make some progress with the blaze which has been
burning through the mountains in Santa
Barbara County.
Unfortunately, the dry weather will come back.
According to The Associated Press, Richard Morgantini, a
spokesman for Santa Barbara
County, said that
firefighters were prepared for a Monday night that would be “a quiet night,
weather-wise.” The air currents which came from the ocean cooled temperatures and
allowed the crews to keep the blaze from spreading. The fire has been burning
since Tuesday and about a third of it was contained Sunday night.
Dixie Dies, spokeswoman for the state Incident Management
Team said that the weather conditions were a great opportunity to win ground in
the battle with the blaze, but the fight was not over because the dry weather
would return.
“We've got a window here with the humid weather that's
really helping us. But we know we're in this for the long haul,” said Dixie Dies, according to The Associated Press.
By Thursday, all the moist air currents would disperse and
the high temperatures would come back. The temperatures
will reach the 90s by Thursday. Also, a new weather system is getting closer
and could produce lightning strikes.
The blaze burned about 15 square miles of Los Padres National Forest and caused the
evacuation of some mountain communities which were south of Highway 154. John
Ahlman, forest spokesman, said that he didn’t know how many homes were affected
by the fire.
Firefighters from 22 states have been called to fight the
blaze. Dixie Dies said that there were about 1,200 firefighters who were
working “incredibly hard.” Authorities suspect that the fire was started by
humans.
In the past two weeks wildfires have burned more than 800
square miles of land and destroyed at least 69 homes in the northern part of California. One firefighter
died.
The state declared emergencies in 11 counties, from Shasta
and Trinity to Santa Barbara
County.
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