Month-old fire flares up anew

Fire crews braced yesterday for another possible flare-up by a month-old forest fire that has forced hundreds of people to flee rural cabins.

“It’s not good. We expect it to run again,” fire spokesman Pete Nicklin said yesterday.

The fire in Los Padres National Forest had charred an estimated 44,400 acres — 70 square miles — by yesterday and was 60 percent contained, little changed from Friday, fire officials said.

Flames were about four miles from the Santa Barbara County hamlet of Paradise Road, where firefighters guarded some of the 175 threatened homes. About 650 people evacuated the community Friday.

The wildfire had been slowed for days by a weather condition that trapped cool, moist air at ground level, but the weather changed and the blaze dashed through 6,000 acres of wilderness.