Since Thursday, an Emergency Strike Team here in San Diego has been waiting to see if it gets a call to head up to Montecito to help their fellow firefighters.
As of Friday afternoon, fire destroyed well over 100 homes and forced around 5,400 people to evacuate their homes in the foothills just south of Santa Barbara.
The blaze, dubbed the Tea Fire, had burned up to 2,500 acres -- about 4 square miles -- by 6 a.m. Friday.
"Chiefs from throughout the county are on conference calls to keep everybody informed of what's going on," said Nick Schuler with Cal Fire. "Should a request come in for San Diego County we can assist them as they've done so many times for us."
According to Schuler, in light of the current dry conditions, the team's primary purpose is to respond to a local fire but if needed, they are also ready to head up north.
Firefighters from throughout the county and even Riverside County are part of the group.
"Current conditions right now are really favorable for a fire. We do have some heat and humidity that's not too bad," said Capt. Mike Koury, Battalion Chief with the Riverside Fire Department. "We don't have a red flag warning in effect right now, so we are in pretty good shape right now, as far as the wind."
