Iran Press/America: The Cave fire broke out just after 4 p.m. Monday near East Camino Cielo and Painted Cave Road in the Los Padres National Forest. The blaze ignited amid erratic sundowner winds that sent flames rushing downhill toward communities in Santa Barbara and Goleta, spurring evacuations.
Steep, rocky terrain and critically dry grass and brush have stymied firefighters’ efforts. The fire behavior overnight was so erratic that when the winds — gusting up to 50 mph — would let up, the blaze would change direction and race back uphill toward firefighters, Los Padres National Forest Fire Chief Jim Harris said, Los Angeles Times reported.
“The Cave fire is burning under some of the toughest firefighting conditions anywhere in the world,” he said. “We’ve experienced several offshore wind events at this point, and that has just dried the fuel bed out to the point where we’re seeing the fire behavior we saw last night.”
As the fire grew late Monday, mutual aid started to arrive from neighboring counties to help the local and national forest firefighters. The Ventura County Fire Department sent two strike teams — about 10 fire engines — Monday evening, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department sent a Firehawk helicopter, which is capable of performing nighttime water drops.
It was not clear when evacuation orders for the rest of the region would be lifted.
No injuries have been reported, and no homes have been destroyed, but one outbuilding was damaged, officials said. It was not clear how the blaze started.
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