An air tanker makes a drop of retardant on a vegetation fire burning Sunday afternoon west of Buellton. Evacuations were ordered between Drum Canyon and the Bobcat Springs area. 
Smoke rises from a two-alarm vegetation fire burning Sunday afternoon west of Buellton. 
A helicopter makes a water drop on a vegetation fire west of Buellton. 
Firefighters monitor the progress of Sunday’s vegetation fire west of Buellton as an air tanker drops a load of retardant. 
An air tanker makes a drop of retardant on a vegetation fire burning Sunday afternoon west of Buellton. 
A bulldozer carves a containment line around a vegetation fire burning Sunday afternoon west of Buellton. 
An air tanker makes a drop of retardant on a vegetation fire burning Sunday afternoon west of Buellton. 
Smoke from the Drum Fire billows menacingly north of Highway 246 west of Buellton on Sunday afternoon 
Evacutions were ordered Sunday afternoon as firefighters battled a wind-driven vegetation fire burning near Highway 246 west of Buellton.
The two-alarm blaze was reported shortly before 1 p.m. in the 7300 block of Highway 246, between Drum Canyon and Domingos roads.
More than 100 structures were threatened before firefighters gained the upper hand on the fire, according to Mike Eliason, a Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman.
Evacuation orders were issued for areas north of Highway 246 between Domingos Road and the Bobcat Springs area, but were reduced to warnings as of 6 p.m., and were dropped altogether Monday morning.
The initial wildfire size was 20 acres, with winds of 25-30 mph pushing the flames to the east toward Buellton.
By early evening, Eliason reported that the blaze, dubbed the Drum Fire, had burned an estimated 600 acres.
It was 30 percent contained Monday morning.
Crews at the scene said early on that the fire had the potential to blacken 800 acres.
Water-dropping helicopters were called in, and at least four fixed-wing air tankers made retardant drops.
Some 200 firefighters were deployed to the blaze, and several strike teams of engines were called in to provide structure protection in the Bobcat Springs area.
Authorities shut down Highway 246 between Avenue of the Flags and Campbell Road. The roadway was reopened at 5 p.m.
Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies assisted in the evacuations.
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.