Fierce California wildfire burns into fourth night

SANTA BARBARA, California (Reuters) - A California wildfire burned for a fourth day on Friday above the seaside town of Santa Barbara as firefighters hoped the weather would help them gain a measure of control over the flames that have destroyed 75 homes.

Another 3,500 homes and about 100 businesses remained in immediate jeopardy from the so-called Jesusita fire, which had blackened more than 3,500 acres in the foothills above the picturesque community by the time darkness began to fall on Friday evening. It destroyed 75 homes and forced thousands of people to flee.

No civilian casualties have been reported so far but the blaze has injured 11 firefighters, three of them hospitalized with burns and smoke inhalation.

Crews battling days of hot, dry erratic winds have made little progress in controlling the firestorm but were cautiously optimistic that unexpectedly calm, moist conditions at dusk could give them that chance.

The most dangerous time of day has proven to be nightfall, when the hot, unpredictable "sundowner" winds pick up and fan the flames through steep canyons into neighborhoods of multimillion-dollar homes.

'THE WIND COULD CHANGE'

"We have an onshore condition and when the air is coming off the ocean the humidity is fairly high and pushes the fire back away from the community," Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Tom Franklin told a late-afternoon news conference.

"And both of those things are good for now but the predictions are that the sundowner condition is still there," Franklin said. "The wind could change and blow the fire downhill. link...