GOLETA, Calif. — 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.

As the blaze grew to more than 6 square miles, authorities warned Friday that the region’s notorious afternoon and evening ‘‘sundowner’’ gusts would recur through the next two days. Weekend fire dangers already were expected to worsen with the arrival of an extreme heat wave across the Southwest, including in New Mexico, where a wildfire has destroyed two dozen homes.

The California inferno appeared to support national wildfire authorities’ predictions of another dangerous and difficult year for the state after years of drought.

State firefighters and the US Forest Service already have fought more than 1,800 wildfires since Jan. 1, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Although El Nino delivered rain and snow to Northern California this winter, the south was bypassed. What rain fell was just enough to sprout grasses that quickly died, adding to the danger of long-dead vegetation.

About 140 homes and ranches were considered at risk in southern Santa Barbara County at the foot of the rugged Santa Ynez Mountains.

Associated Press