Fog and light winds were helping contain a wildfire that had ravaged parts of Southern California and scorched nearly 9,000 acres, authorities said late Saturday.
Mandatory evacuation orders had been downgraded to warnings in some areas in Santa Barbara County and the blaze was 40 percent contained, officials said in a news release.
This video is a series of shots of the Jesucita Fire in Santa Barbara, California on May 6, 2009. All of this footage was shot from downtown Santa Barbara only a few blocks from State Street and within walking distance to the ocean.- Scubaman5000
Firefighters wary of unpredictable “sundowner” winds fought on Thursday to keep a wildfire that destroyed dozens of multimillion-dollar homes from burning through the city of Santa Barbara.
Although there were no further reports on Thursday of houses lost in the foothills above Santa Barbara, crews were on alert because the hot, dry winds notoriously pick up speed at sunset. Officials said about 3,500 homes remained threatened.
Some 15,000 people have been driven from their homes by the so-called Jesusita fire. It has also injured 10 firefighters and blackened at least 1,300 acres surrounding the picturesque seaside community since it ignited on Tuesday.
SYDNEY – A SINGAPORE-OWNED energy delivery company is facing a class action suit over allegations that one of its power lines sparked last week’s deadly Australian bush fires which broke out in the Kinglake area of Victoria state.
Residents there are launching legal proceedings against SP AusNet over a fallen power line which is believed to have started the blaze.
Australian police have charged a man with arson causing death over one of the country’s deadly bushfires.
The 39-year-old was also charged with deliberately lighting a bushfire near Churchill, in eastern Victoria state. The blaze killed at least 21 people.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has described Australia’s deadliest bushfires as mass murder.
At least 181 people were killed as the fires swept through Victoria in south-east Australia at the weekend.
Australian police have detained two people suspected of deliberately lighting one of the bushfires which savagely swept through southeast Australia killing at least 181 people and leaving 5,000 homeless.
“The investigation is in its initial stages. Two people are assisting police with inquiries,” a police spokeswoman told Reuters Thursday. Police would not give any further details.
The death toll from Australia’s deadliest bushfires may reach 300, officials said, as police probe whether the blaze in the worst-hit town of Marysville was lit deliberately.
At least 181 people are confirmed dead in the wildfires sweeping through Victoria state and the coroner is prepared for as many as 300 bodies, Police Commissioner Christine Nixon told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“We are going house by house, street by street to search for bodies,” Nixon told the ABC’s Lateline program yesterday. Authorities believe “there are clearly more people who have died in this fire.”
A government official says the death toll from Australia’s worst wildfire disaster has risen to 108.
Authorities counted more victims overnight Monday as they reached further into a huge zone scorched by blazes that ripped across Victoria state at the weekend.
At least 700 homes had been destroyed in the fires that in some cases have razed entire towns.
State Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Geoff Russell said Monday that 108 deaths had been confirmed.
Australian emergency crews are stepping up their efforts to tackle wildfires that have ripped through the state of Victoria, killing 25 people.
About 30,000 firefighters are battling nine major fires, and the authorities say they expect more fatalities.
Victoria Premier John Brumby said he was considering an offer from the federal government to send in the army.
Entire townships have been destroyed in the fires, fanned by soaring temperatures and unpredictable winds.
Forecasters are predicting more extremely hot weather in the region – which has seen record temperatures of 47C (117F) in recent days.
Wildfires spreads all over Southern California on Saturday, reducing 500 mobile homes to cinders and forcing thousands of homeowners and even firefighters to flee as flames as high as 50 feet licked at their heels.
The Sayre Fire, the worst of the blazes, raced through Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley town on the edge of the Angeles National Forest, forcing the evacuation of 10,000 people and shutting down major freeways including Interstate 5.
