Massive wildfires threaten two California towns

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California firefighters made adesperate stand as darkness fell on Thursday to save more than4,000 homes and other structures from a pair of out-of-controlwildfires burning about 170 miles (273 km) apart along theCalifornia coast.

The most imminent danger was to homes around Goleta, nearSanta Barbara, where flames were fast approaching 2,600 homesand transmission lines supplying power to 100,000 people on thecentral coast.

All told, some 3,000 residences had been evacuated in andaround Goleta, a town of about 30,000 people, and officialssaid the threat to life and property had made it the state'stop firefighting priority, despite more than 1,000 other blazesburning across the state.

"The entire sky here in Goleta is black with smoke andwe're evacuating several more locations," Cal Fire spokeswomanKaren McKinley said on Thursday evening of the Gap Fire, whichbroke out on Wednesday afternoon and had charred more than2,400 acres (971 hectares).

Asked how close the flames were to the nearest homes, shesaid: "It may be at them right now. This is a critical moment."

Meanwhile, the 64,000-acre (25,900 hectare) Basin ComplexFire raged into the night on Thursday in the foothills abovethe scenic coastal community of Big Sur, where 1,800 homes andbusinesses were evacuated and 25 miles (40 kms) of coastalhighway shut down.

'ITS GETTING SERIOUS'

Whipped by high winds and burning through drought-riddenwilderness areas, only about 5 percent of the Basin ComplexFire has been contained.

"This is a very active fire. Last night we were seeing 150-to 200-foot flame lengths and generally at night fires do notact like that," Cal Fire spokeswoman Tina Rose said.

"It would not surprise me, unfortunately, if some morehomes were destroyed. I hope not. We are trying very hard toprotect them. ... It's go time in Big Sur," she said. "There'sno messing around. It's getting serious."

Already the Basin Complex Fire had destroyed 20 homes andanother 1,777 structures in the area were consideredthreatened.

Evacuation order was extended to cover the 25 miles ofcoastline after the National Weather Service issued a red flagwarning over higher winds and lower humidity.

Complicating the situation was that the forests have beenplagued by disease since the mid-1990s, she said, killing manytrees in the area and providing ready fuel.

"There are literally thousands of dead oak trees in thefire area," Rose said. "It's basically firewood."

She said fire crews did not expect to fully contain theBasin Complex Fire for weeks.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who visited the BigSur area on Wednesday, has ordered National Guard troops toprovide ground support.

Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in 11counties in central and Northern California where more than1,000 fires have been burning for days, blackening more than425,000 acres (172,000 hectares).