New Calif. blaze threatens Santa Barbara

GOLETA, Calif., July 3 (UPI) -- Firefighters struggled Thursday in Southern California to keep a wildfire as small as possible as it devoured brush they said had not burned for 50 years.

The Gap Fire threatens residential neighborhoods in the Santa Barbara area. Most of the more than 1,000 fires burning in the state are in the north, with one in the Big Sur area.

The Gap Fire jumped a fire line Wednesday night, ballooned to more than 2,400 acres, and forced the evacuation of about 45 homes in the seaside community of Goleta, the Los Angeles Times said. Officials warned area residents to be prepared to evacuate.

Tom Franklin, deputy fire chief in Santa Barbara County, said the Gap Fire is California's top firefighting priority at the moment.

"When a small fire breaks out, the state dumps everything it can on it to keep it small," he said.

In Big Sur, up the coast from Santa Barbara, the Basin Complex fires were about 3 percent contained but grew to more than 64,000 acres since Wednesday and threatened nearly 1,800 residences.

Greater levels of containment were reported around scores of fires in Northern California. Weather was moderating, but still hot with low humidity.