"Wind keeps California wildfires roaring along two coastal fronts" by Amanda Fehd, Associated Press | July 5, 2008
BIG SUR, Calif. - A pair of out-of-control wildfires surged along California's central coast yesterday, chewing through opposite ends of a parched forest and threatening more than 4,500 homes.
While flames from the stubborn fire in the northern flank of Los Padres National Forest inched closer to Big Sur's historic vacation retreats, state emergency officials said hot winds had caused a newer blaze 200 miles south in Santa Barbara County to double in size overnight.
Residents of more than 1,700 homes in and around the city of Goleta were ordered to evacuate, joining an equal number of people who were told to leave Big Sur days earlier.
Driven by wind gusts as high as 40 miles per hour, the Santa Barbara County fire was so fierce early yesterday that firefighters at one point took shelter in about 70 homes they were trying to defend, said Captain Eli Iskow of the county Fire Department.
Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said weather forecasts calling for winds to kick up again in the afternoon had officials worried that the outlook for both blazes was not going to improve anytime soon.
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Meanwhile, money goes out the door of this country, while Nero Bush fiddles and the MSM sucks c***!
