Hundreds of people in communities above Goleta were ordered to evacuate Thursday night as the Gap Fire intensified and continued to race through the mountains, again taking out power and charring some 3,000 acres so far.

The newest areas where residents were ordered to leave their homes included Painted Cave, Hidden Valley and the Trout Club.

“The fire has been moving along a wide front,” Wiliam Boyer, a county spokesman, said.

One front is moving beyond Glen Annie, with the other heading east toward Highway 154, he added late Thursday night.

So far, as many as three structures have burned in the Glenn Annie area, Boyer said, but he wasn't able to say what type of structures those were.

Earlier Thursday, officials said the Gap Fire had become top priority for any additional firefighting resources available statewide because it's so close to hundreds of homes, officials said.

“This means we're first in line for air support, for bulldozers, for fire trucks and crews” as they are released from duties elsewhere, said Tom Franklin, Santa Barbara County deputy fire chief .

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The exact size of the fire that began Tuesday evening off West Camino Cielo Road remained difficult to calculate, in part due to the rugged terrain, but officials estimated Thursday night it had blackened about 3,000 acres.

The blaze was estimated to be 16 percent contained Thursday night, according to Helen Tarbet, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.

No structures have burned and no major injuries have been reported, but the flames have advanced to within about a mile of the nearest residences, in upper La Patera and Glen Annie canyons, said Cindy Chojnacky, Santa Barbara District ranger for the U.S. Forest Service.

Dozens of homes in that area remain under a mandatory evacuation order. As conditions on the fire's northeastern flank worsened late Thursday afternoon, the evacuation order was expanded to include homes along West Camino Cielo Road, including Kinevan Road and the Haney Tract.

Just before 8 p.m. Thursday, the mountain communities of Hidden Valley and the Trout Club were placed under an evacuation order, along with all residents north of Patterson Avenue (north of the Patterson curve) between Fairview and Patterson avenues. Less than an hour later, the community of Painted Cave was added to the areas under mandatory evacuation orders.

However, areas affected by evacuation orders and warnings are changing pretty quickly, officials noted late Thursday.

As of press time, an estimated 1,600 people had been evacuated, according to officials at the County Emergency Operations Center.

Hundreds of residents living north of Cathedral Oaks Road between Fairview Avenue and Glen Annie Road are also under a warning, and have been strongly advised to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

Officials remained vague about when that advisory might change to a full-blown evacuation order, saying it depends largely on weather and wind conditions.

During an afternoon press conference at the county's Emergency Operations Center, Goleta Mayor Michael Bennett also announced a fireworks show and other Fourth of July festivities scheduled for today at Girsch Park in Goleta have been canceled due to the fire.

All events scheduled today at Stow Grove in Goleta have also been canceled “due to this emergency affecting our residents,” he said.

A “state of emergency” proclamation was also officially ratified Thursday by the county Board of Supervisors, in hopes of receiving additional personnel and resources for fighting the Gap Fire.

Minutes later, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in the county, and vowed to send more resources.

An estimated 750 firefighters from numerous agencies were battling the blaze, with the aid of four air tankers, four helicopters, and 102 fire engines.

Bulldozers were also being used to cut fire breaks along the northern edges of large avocado and lemon orchards directly below the fire lines and along the mountaintop.

Keeping the flames from jumping Camino Cielo and spreading onto the north side of the Santa Ynez range is a key priority for firefighters, along with protecting homes in the Goleta Valley, Franklin said.

“We do have structure-protection equipment in place for those houses” directly threatened by the blaze, he added. On its southern flank, however, “a big concern” is that winds could also push the flames eastward toward the city of Santa Barbara.

Officials warned of a possible repeat of a fire-caused power outage that cut electricity to about 81,000 South Coast residents Wednesday night. Earlier estimates that put the number of affected Southern California Edison customers at 150,000 were inaccurate, according to the utility's spokeswoman, Jane Brown.

Those 220,000-volt lines in the foothills shut down because of heavy smoke and ash from the fire as it pushed west and burned near metal power poles, she said.

“We are very concerned this could happen again,” she added. “As long as the fire is burning near our transmission lines, that is a very real threat.”

The concern proved valid as another power outage struck Thursday night, when 40,000 customers from Santa Barbara to Goleta were without power, said Nancy Williams, a spokeswoman for the utility.

The fire surrounded a nearby Southern California Edison substation which firefighters evacuated, Williams said.

While customers had their electricity restored by 9:15 p.m. - “we are hoping it's permanent, ” Williams said - she warned that another outage could occur at any time.

Although the human-caused wildfire has spread more slowly during daylight hours, it mushroomed considerably to the west and somewhat south late Tuesday, pushed by sundowner winds blowing down the mountainsides. Chojnacky and Franklin said fire officials expected much the same for the next couple of days.

The blaze is likely to burn at least several more days before it's contained.

“We can't predict a containment date,” Chojnacky said.

Its cause remains under investigation, but the fire is believed to have started on the south side of Camino Cielo near the Lizard's Mouth area, about a half-mile east of the Winchester Canyon Gun Club.

“The point of origin has been cordoned off and we have four investigators working in that area,” Chojnacky said.

She disputed published reports that it may have been sparked by illegal shooting in that area, however.

Although some of the hundreds of wildfires burning elsewhere in California are much larger than the Gap Fire, “the proximity of this fire to urban areas makes it the top priority” statewide for additional resources, Franklin said. Getting more “aircraft and air support is a big deal for us,” he added.

The emergency declarations help the county compete for firefighting resources, especially aircraft, which are presently in short supply statewide, Franklin told the supervisors.

Orange flames leaping skyward and thick smoke from the Gap Fire can be seen from Highway 101 for miles in each direction. Franklin said that visibility has many people unnecessarily worried.

But for residents near the fire, he added: “The time to prepare to evacuate is not when the fire is in your backyard. You should always be prepared to evacuate.”

That theme was echoed by Bennett. “Be prepared,” he said. “I can't emphasize that enough.”

County supervisors expressed concerns about how well information was being disseminated to the public. In response, the county staff encouraged all residents to register a cell phone number online with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department for use in reverse 9-1-1 calls to alert them to a power outage and other emergency.

The supervisors were also told that more lines for public information are being added to the Forest Service's overburdened call center.

To date, the governor has declared a state of emergency in 11 counties: Santa Barbara, Butte, Kern, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Plumas, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta and Trinity.

Chuck Schultz can be reached at 925-2691, Ext. 2241, or at cschultz@santamariatimes.com. Staff writers Sam Womack,

Natalie Ragus and Janene Scully contributed to this story.

July 4, 2008