Ventura, Dec 7 (AP) Authorities closed a major freewaytoday as flames from the largest and most destructive SouthernCalifornia wildfire jumped lanes and churned toward coastaland mountain communities northwest of Los Angeles as crewskept an eye on unpredictable winds.
A more favorable wind forecast still called forpotentially dangerous gusts, but ones not likely to approachhistoric levels forecasters had feared, according to theNational Weather Service.
"This is good news for the fire crews as the winds willnot be driven quite as vigorously," a weather servicestatement said.
Calmer overnight conditions helped crews protect theVentura County resort town of Ojai (OH'hi), where most of the7,000 residents were under new evacuation orders following abig burst of wind yesterday. Evacuations were also ordered forthe first time in Santa Barbara County, where the coastal cityof Carpinteria was under threat.
Officials closed US 101 for more than a dozen miles alongthe coast, cutting off a major route between Ventura and SantaBarbara counties for several hours as fire charred heavy brushalong lanes.
Southern California has been hit hard by four major firesthat have put tens of thousands of people under evacuationorders and destroyed nearly 200 homes and buildings, a figurethat is almost certain to grow.
Millions of cellphones buzzed loudly last night from SanDiego to Santa Barbara with a sound that usually means anAmber Alert, but this time meant a rare weather warning forstrong winds making extreme fire danger.
Officials hope the electronic push will keep the regionalert and the death toll from the week's fires at zero.
Melissa Rosenzweig, 47, was briefly back home afterevacuating from her Ventura house, which has been spared sofar while most on her street had burned in the largest andmost destructive of the region's fires. She and her husbandwere about to evacuate again, hoping they will get lucky twiceas the new winds arrive. (AFP)NSA.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.