A huge Southern California wildfire carved a path to the sea and burned on the beach Friday, but firefighters got a break as gusty winds turned into breezes. Temperatures remained high, but humidity levels were expected to soar as cool air moved in from the ocean and the Santa Ana winds retreated, AP reported. At the same time, the reversal of wind direction carried the risk of sending flames in new, dangerous directions. "It could move just as quickly coming the other way," said Bill Nash, a Ventura County fire spokesman. The wind-whipped fire erupted Thursday in the Camarillo area, threatening as many as 4,000 homes but only damaging 15, Nash said. The blaze was only 10 percent contained on Friday, and the work of more than 900 firefighters, aided by air tankers, was just beginning. Evacuations were lifted overnight for neighborhoods as the fire moved toward the coast. By midmorning, the fire was burning mostly in rugged mountains. It jumped the Pacific Coast Highway and burned on a beach shooting range of a coastal naval base. No housing structures were in immediate danger. The fire reinforced predictions that California is in for a bad summer fire season because dry winter and spring weather has left brush tinder-dry.
