GOLETA – Firefighters braced Friday for the return of late afternoon winds that a day earlier caused a wildfire on California's Central Coast to double in size and race dangerously close to hundreds of homes in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains.

The notorious “sundowner” winds pushed the wildfire in Santa Barbara County to 5,400 acres – the equivalent of more than eight square miles – late Thursday and prompted authorities to deem it the top wildfire priority in the state.

The regionally famous winds, which occur in the late afternoon and are caused by the area's unique topography, are called “sundowners” by locals.

About a half-dozen outbuildings burned overnight, but the 1,072 firefighters on scene were able to save hundreds of homes from intense flames in the pre-dawn hours, said Capt. Eli Iskow of the Santa Barbara County fire department. No residents were killed or injured, although several firefighters suffered minor injuries, he said.

Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 1,700 homes late Thursday in several small communities in and around Goleta and about 300 more homes were told to prepare for possible evacuation.

The fire was 10 percent contained Friday, with no estimate for full containment.

About 100 people took shelter at San Marcos High School, an evacuation center, said Janet Stanley, CEO American Red Cross Santa Barbara County chapter. The county health department was handing out free dust masks to residents to help with smoke inhalation.

Goleta resident Susan Ramirez said she and her husband and two children evacuated their duplex about two miles from the fire late Thursday as conditions deteriorated. They were staying with her parents, also in Goleta, and watching the smoke clouds.

“It was completely black and there was too much ash,” she said of the family's flight. “It was like we were under this huge, dark cloud and ... the ashes were just coming at you constantly. Our eyes were burning and we were trying to get out of there as fast as we could.”

Iskow said that the flames overnight were so intense that at one point firefighters took shelter in about 70 homes they were trying to defend, so the fire could blow over. The city of about 55,000 is 8 miles west of Santa Barbara.

“It pushed it right up to the homes on the south side of the fires. Hundreds of firefighters were in place around hundreds of structures. It was an incredible, amazing job,” he said. “I think we saved every one of those structures in that area.”

He said flames were pressing up against the boundaries of the area that burned in the 1990 Painted Cave fire, a blaze that burned about 550 homes, killed one person and charred more than 7½ square miles. The brush above that area in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains hasn't burned in more than 50 years, he said.

“It is very, very steep area of brush above all these structures, the fuels in there are very, very old,” he said. “You've got tons and tons of dead, downed material that's several feet thick.”

Some 40,000 Southern California Edison customers lost power earlier in the fire, but spokeswoman Cathy Hart said all customers had power Friday morning. Expected high winds later in the day, however, could knock lines down, she said.