Even before 7 a.m. this Sunday morning, there was a hot, sheer intensity to the sunlight breaking over the firefighting base camp at Dos Pueblo High School. For firefighters getting ready to battle the Whittier Fire — now entering its ninth day — that dry, scorching heat will be the big story this Sunday. Backcountry temperatures are expected to hit triple digits, and the relative humidity is less than 10 percent. The key challenge will be containing a growing bubble of fire on the northwestern flank of the fire that wants to push farther to the west and to the north. But the good news at the Sunday morning fire briefing — held amid a growing pop-up city of tents, porta-potties, and fire trucks of every color and jurisdiction for as far as the eye can see — is that the sundowner winds predicted for Saturday night did not arrive with the full vengeance with which they were expected.
The feared downslope winds were not as strong as weather forecasts indicated they’d be, and when they collided with the marine layer — at about 800 feet — they bounced off the surface of the cooler air like rocks skipping off water. For downslope urban dwellers calibrating the fire for the appropriate freak-out response factor, Saturday night’s sundowner no-show was the second such bullet dodged. The night before, the same thing had happened. But even so, the fire managed to grow by 3,300 acres on Friday night. By sharp contrast, the fire grew far more modestly Saturday night, expanding its size by only 400 acres. That brings the total size to about 18,000 acres with containment at 36 percent.
For the incident commanders leading the early morning briefing, Saturday was a good night. Better yet, they noted, no sundowner winds are predicted for the next several days. Better yet, some of the fire’s front slope has already burned and then stopped. If and when it ever comes down the mountain, it will lack the advantage of a running start. Then it will encounter Goleta’s green belt of orchards and fields that acts as buffer between the forest and urban civilization. Lastly, the fuel moisture downslope is considerably higher than in the backcountry. That too is expected to retard the rate of advancement, should Whittier make a serious push toward the populated areas.