Most evacuation orders for the Holiday Fire area were lifted Saturday afternoon as cooler temperatures and calmer winds allowed firefighters to push containment of the destructive blaze in the Goleta foothills to 80 percent.
The wind-whipped 100-acre fire, which damaged or destroyed 22 structures, broke out at about 8:45 p.m. Friday off Holiday Hill Road in a semi-rural neighborhood near the north end of Fairview Avenue.
At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown announced that only about 600 people would remain in mandatory evacuation areas, of the 3,200 affected by the original order, after the downgraded orders took effect at 5 p.m.
Still under mandatory evacuation orders are neighborhoods accessed from North Fairview north of the intersection of La Goleta Road, including the following: Sunset Ridge Road; Franklin Ranch Road; northern parts of La Goleta Road; North Fairview Avenue, north of La Goleta Road; El Camino Ratel; Holiday Hill Road; Villa Lemora; Cuesta Verde; Edward Place; and Pine Tree Lane.
Those areas released from a mandatory evacuation include neighborhoods accessed off La Patera Lane, Carlo Drive, Santa Margarita Drive, Hidden Lane, Cambridge Drive, Dorado Drive, North Kellogg Avenue south of La Goleta Road, Avenida Pequena, and North Patterson Avenue.
Those neighborhoods have been reduced to “evacuation warning areas,” but residents were urged to remain vigilant in case the fire flares up again.
Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Eric Peterson thanked residents for self evacuating and following evacuation orders on Friday night, saying he believes there would have been fire-related fatalities if they had not done so.
Peterson also noted that the ability to pre-stage extra equipment in Goleta on Friday allowed for a faster response to the blaze and made a difference in the outcome.
He credited state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson and Assemblywoman Monique Limón, both D-Santa Barbara, with pushing for funding in Sacramento for the state’s Office of Emergency Services to provide for such advance deployment of fire resources during times of peak fire danger.
Full containment of the Holiday Fire is targeted for Wednesday, July 11, according to Matt Ferris, division chief for the county Fire Department.
Although authorities have said the fire destroyed 20 structures, Ferris noted that that was a “rough guess,” and that crews were making property assessments to come up with a more precise figure.
Other incident commanders have told Noozhawk that, based on aerial observations, they believe only 14 structures were destroyed.
On Sunday morning, fire officials reported that 10 homes destroyed and three were damaged. while nine non-residence structures were destroyed.
County officials said the evacuation orders changed due the considerable progress made on containment — it stood at only 5 percent early Saturday — and the improving weather conditions.
“People living in the new evacuation warning area must be prepared to leave the area immediately should conditions change. Law enforcement and fire personnel will remain in the area through the night. Firefighters will continue to do aggressive mop-up of hot spots in the impacted area,” the county said in a statement announcing the changes.
Cause of the fire remained under investigation.
County officials on Friday night had said the blaze started as a structure fire that spread to the brush, but Saturday they indicated the original dispatch was for a vegetation fire. They declined to elaborate.
Some 500 personnel remained assigned to the blaze Saturday night, a number that was expected to dwindle as continued progress is made on containment.
Click here for more Holiday Fire information.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
