Some additional info in this article:
Calif. wildfire scorches 5,000 acres
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2004-06-06-calif-wildfires_x.htm
GAVIOTA, Calif. (AP) — A wildfire in Southern California scorched more than 5,000 acres Saturday and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from a gated community nearby, authorities said.
The flames spread quickly through a line of narrow canyons and steep hillsides covered with dense, old-growth brush, burning on both sides of Highway 101 about 27 miles north of Santa Barbara.
More than 200 firefighters battled the blaze, which was reported shortly before noon, said Charlie Johnson, spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
Waves of thick, black smoke and fiery embers cut visibility on the freeway to zero, forcing authorities to divert traffic on a roughly 3-mile-long stretch of the highway in both directions. The highway was expected to remain closed for several hours.
Officials had no immediate estimate of when the fire could be contained.
About 500 people in roughly 200 homes in the community of Hollister Ranch were evacuated, Johnson said. No injuries were immediately reported.
At least one structure, part of an abandoned school, was damaged by flames. The Arguello and Shell Oil refineries were threatened, but firefighters were able to protect them, spokesman Jan Purkett said.
A section of the Union Pacific Railroad railway between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara was closed because several trestles were damaged by the fire.
http://www.californiacoastline.org/cgi-bin/image.cgi?image=2921&mode=sequential&flags=0
Pretty sure this is one of the trestles damaged. I heard one was bad...but that last article said several.
Oops.
There is an empty oilcan train south of there waiting to go to Wunpost ( http://rlehmer.50megs.com/photos/SP/postmerger/sp203_santamargarita-1.html ) This train moves 1,000,000 gallons of oil every three days between San Ardo and the LA Refineries....you miss a couple of those shipments and there may indeed be a spike in gas prices!
When was the last time you heard about train trestles burning?
And it hasn't been dry lately.