Cave Fire: Evacuees Return Home As Firefighters Make Progress

SANTA BARBARA, CA — Overnight rain from the first winter storm of the season helped firefighters make significant progress in battling back the Santa Barbara County Cave Fire, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department said. Evacuees were given the OK to return home in time for Thanksgiving. As of about 8:10 a.m., the fire had burned 4,330 acres and was 10 percent contained, though the containment figure was expected to grow.

Fire department spokesperson Mike Eliason gave a series of updates Wednesday morning on Twitter. He announced that evacuation orders were lifted, though Highway 154 will remain closed.

"Rain is still in the forecast and the colder overnight storm actually brings a slight chance of snow near the higher elevation of the fire. (A sentence I'll probably never write again)," he wrote on Twitter.

The Cave Fire has not grown since Tuesday around 4:20 p.m. No injuries were reported and no homes were destroyed, Eliason said.

The Cave Fire was burning in an area east of Highway 154, in the Los Padres National Forest. Fire officials said during a Tuesday press conference that the heavy winds and difficult terrain made firefighting challenging. Fuels in the region were extremely dry and hadn't been burned off since a 1990 fire.

View a Wednesday morning scene from the Cave Fire below: