New evacuation issued for 3rd largest wildfire in California

The deadly wildfire that has plagued the U.S. state of California for nearly two weeks raged on Saturday and threatened a wealthy community northwest of Los Angeles, prompting new evacuations in Santa Barbara County.

The so-called Thomas Fire, now ranked the third largest wildfire in modern history of California, was moving rapidly and now took aim at the hills above Montecito, known for its luxury resorts and mansions of celebrities.

Taking advantage of a lull in winds in last Wednesday to Friday, firefighters cleared contained areas along the westernmost edge of the giant blaze to stop it from approaching communities at foothills, Tony Pighetti, a captain of the Santa Barbara fire department, told Xinhua.

However, fueling by a new blast of Santa Ana winds predicted to hit the area through Sunday with gusts of 65 mph (110 kph), the Thomas Fire moved northward fast Saturday and the flame has been seen on top of hills over the town.

Kelly Hoover, Santa Barbara County Sheriff's spokeswoman, said authorities dispatched hundreds of crews to Montecito, checking door to door and ordering residents to leave.

Montecito, a small oceanside city located between the Coastal Mountains and the Pacific seashore with about 20,000 residents, were evacuated since from last week the fire scorched the southern Ventura County.

Pictures posted on Twitter pages showed that platoons of fire trucks awaited orders with their engines running in parking lots of public schools, churches and other designated safety zones Saturday morning.

The Santa Ana winds are strong, extremely dry down-slope winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California in fall and winter. They are known as "devil winds" for fanning regional wildfires.