Firefighters were making progress on Saturday toward containing a ferocious California wildfire now in its fifth day that has destroyed 80 homes and forced some 29,000 people to evacuate an area above the seaside city of Santa Barbara, according to Reuters. "About 30 percent of the fire is now contained, up from only 10 percent on Friday," said Harry Hagen, a spokesman for the emergency operations center for Santa Barbara County, attributing the progress to better weather. One of the biggest challenges in battling the so-called Jesusita fire has been hot, unpredictable "sundowner" winds that pick up at nightfall and fan the flames through steep canyons into neighborhoods of multimillion-dollar homes. "The humidity's up and they (firefighters) can really take advantage of the marine layer today. The winds didn't pick up last night as significantly as had been predicted," Hagen said. "Prior to today, it was a defensive effort and it was all reactionary. As of today, it's an offensive effort and firefighters are now chasing the fire," Hagen said. County officials expect the fire to be contained by the middle of next week, but have not said when evacuees can return. Hagen said officials were working on this. "When it does happen, it will be staged similarly to how the evacuation was staged. You can't have nearly 30,000 people reentering the area at one time," he said. "They want to make sure there are safe conditions and any investigations have been concluded in those areas," Hagen said. About 4,222 firefighting personnel were on scene, using nearly 500 fire engines, 11 air tankers and 13 helicopters. He said over 11,524 properties and 29,000 people still remained subject to mandatory eviction orders due to the fire, which had blackened more than 8,600 acres (3,480 hectares) in the foothills above the picturesque city. The fire has destroyed 80 homes. No civilian casualties have been reported so far but the blaze has injured 13 firefighters, at least three of them hospitalized with burns and smoke inhalation.
