California's priority wildfire in check -- for now

By Jim Christie

SAN FRANCISCO, July 5 (Reuters) - Firefighters in California have fended off a blaze threatening more than 3,000 homes in and around the coastal town of Goleta and are turning their attention to preventing its spread toward the nearby picturesque city of Santa Barbara, officials said on Saturday.

Fire crews battling the so-called Gap Fire are holding the line against the blaze that on Friday had menaced Goleta, a town of 30,000 roughly 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Los Angeles, said Manuel Madrigal, a spokesman for the federal, state and local fire units on the scene.

"It's looking really good. The crews are in there cleaning up, mopping up and looking for hot spots," Madrigal said after a night in which firefighters prevented the blaze from consuming any homes in and around Goleta despite flames pressing against residential lots.

Fire crews, backed by 10 airtankers, will now concentrate on rugged terrain near Goleta to block a potential advance toward Santa Barbara, said Rolf Larsen, another spokesman for the multi-agency effort.

"The priority is to put a lot of resources in and order where there are homes and specifically to the east ... where it could move toward Santa Barbara," Larsen said.

The area's steep slopes and canyons are filled with dry brush that in some spots has not burned for a half a century.

Officials on Friday declared the Gap Fire the priority blaze in California. The most populous U.S. state has been beset by more than 1,000 wildfires in recent weeks, many sparked by lightning storms. The cause of the Gap Fire has yet to be determined.

Nearly 1,200 firefighters and other personnel have been able to contain roughly a quarter of the Gap Fire, which has burned 8,357 acres (3,382 hectares), and they hope to build on that if so-called "sundowner" winds do not pick up.