Diminished Winds Help in Effort to Battle Fire
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NEW CUYAMA, Calif. — Diminishing winds Thursday helped firefighters mounting a ground and air assault on an 8,900-acre wildfire raging untamed for five days.
“We’re making good progress,” said Don Oaks of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. The blaze was 45% surrounded, with full containment expected by Sunday evening.
Water-dropping aircraft flew sorties over the fire in support of 1,562 firefighters waging the ground war. They were plagued by dense thickets of 75-year-old undergrowth and steep, rocky terrain.
The wildfire 30 miles north of Santa Barbara was close to containment Monday when 40 mph winds kicked up and pushed it past fire lines. About 40 homes in the Cottonwood Canyon area were briefly threatened.
The fire was started Sunday afternoon by a spark from a tractor.
There were four minor firefighter injuries: Two were hurt in a vehicle rollover; one was injured by a chain saw and one was struck by a tree limb.
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