Wildfire near Santa Barbara grows, but evacuation orders lifted as conditions improve

Firefighters struggled to contain a burgeoning wildfire near Santa Barbara, California, on Tuesday, hoping to get help from a change in the weather that could also bring its own element of danger.

About 5,500 people had to leave their homes as the fast-growing blaze spread to more than 4,100 acres – or 6 square miles – with no containment. Video posted on Twitter showed residents driving away as flames surged near their cars.

The Cave Fire was mostly burning through dry, brushy canyons and ridges of the Santa Ynez Mountains north of Santa Barbara, but evacuations were ordered in populated foothill communities. The order was lifted later in the day for the majority of residents as conditions improved, allowing about 4,000 evacuees to return home.

No homes have been lost and no injuries have been reported, according to a tweet by Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason, who told KEYT-TV that initially about 2,400 homes were threatened.

"It’s been quite the firefight," said Battalion Chief Anthony Stornetta. "We’ve had the fire move up slope, down slope and across the slope."

A helping hand from Mother Nature may be on the way in the form of rainstorms expected to arrive in the area around midnight, bringing at least an inch of precipitation into parched terrain that hasn’t been touched by rain in six months.

The weather system is welcome but carries the risk of changing the direction of the fire with shifting winds and causing mudslides in charred areas.

In January 2018, a downpour on recently burned slopes just east of Santa Barbara unleashed massive debris flows that devastated the community of Montecito, destroying homes and killing 23 people.

About 600 firefighters were confronting the Cave Fire, which started late Monday afternoon in Los Padres National Forest and had grown to an estimated 3,122 acres by that night, according to the fire department. Gusty winds of up to 30 mph blew up fire activity as the blaze moved toward city limits.

Miryam Garcia, 21, and her mother, Norma Ramos, 47, fled their home as flames approached late Monday and stayed with friends overnight before heading to a Red Cross shelter at a community center just outside Santa Barbara.

“I was just kind of praying that it didn’t get to our house,” Garcia said.

The winds died down and humidity increased by Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service said morning winds of 10 mph are expected to drop off in the afternoon, before the rain arrives.

As the firefight worsened, the county's director of emergency services declared a state of emergency.

Santa Barbara City College cancelled classes for all of its campuses Tuesday and Wednesday, but the fire was unlikely to threaten the campus of UC Santa Barbara, according to a posting by Chancellor Henry Yang.

A handful of school districts in Santa Barbara County were already out for the holiday week.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Gretchen Wenner covers breaking news for the Ventura County Star.

This article originally appeared on USATNetwork: Santa Barbara's Cave Fire grows but evacuation orders lifted