SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Strong winds were pushing a fierce wildfire above this California coastal city closer to populated areas and forced thousands more to flee their homes.

The fire's increasing strength prompted officials to order 6,000 more people to evacuate late Thursday, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said. That pushed the total number of evacuated residents to about 18,000.
The blaze was approaching homes in the city's more populated, flat area below its steep canyons. Santa Barbara city fire spokesman Gary Pitney said flames jumped a road dividing the hilly terrain from the flatlands below and ignited spot fires in brush surrounding houses.
Pitney said the fire also pushed west across state Route 134, the key thoroughfare between Santa Barbara and wine country to the north. Kelley Gouette, a deputy incident commander with the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, likened the fire to “a blowtorch.”
Officials opened a second evacuation shelter to accommodate 900 additional evacuees. All 190 beds were filled at the first shelter at a high school. The seasonal wildfires that menace this idyllic coastal city — home to screen stars, former presidents and Oprah Winfrey — roared to life earlier in the year than usual but their ferocity is familiar.
By day's end, state officials said the fire grew from 1,300 to 2,739 acres — roughly 4 square miles. Firefighters had been on alert for a predicted return of a “Sundowner” — fierce winds that late in the day can sweep down from the Santa Ynez Mountains towering close behind Santa Barbara.
The benignly named Jesusita Fire was a slumbering day-old brush fire on rugged slopes above the city when a Sundowner hit at midafternoon Wednesday, hurling towering flames into homes and spitting embers into more distant neighborhoods.