GOLETA, Santa Barbara County — Stoked by winds, a wildfire burning west of Santa Barbara roared down mountain slopes toward the Pacific Ocean, shutting down California’s major coastal highway and forcing a group of firefighters to seek shelter behind a fire engine as flames licked at them. Weekend fire dangers already were expected to worsen with the arrival of extreme heat across the Southwest, including in New Mexico, where a wildfire has destroyed two dozen homes. State firefighters and the U.S. Forest Service already have fought more than 1,800 wildfires since Jan. 1, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. Fires become especially dangerous when sundowners are formed by high pressure inland to the north of the mountains and low pressure over the ocean to the south, causing gusty winds to sweep down the face of the mountains.
