UPDATE 1-Massive wildfires threaten two California towns

(Updates with firefighting efforts near Santa Barbara, other details)

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES, July 3 (Reuters) - California firefighters made a desperate stand as darkness fell on Thursday to save more than 4,000 homes and other structures from a pair of out-of-control wildfires burning about 170 miles (273 km) apart along the California coast.

The most imminent danger was to homes around Goleta, near Santa Barbara, where flames were fast approaching 2,600 homes and transmission lines supplying power to 100,000 people on the central coast.

All told, some 3,000 residences had been evacuated in and around Goleta, a town of about 30,000 people, and officials said the threat to life and property had made it the state's top firefighting priority, despite more than 1,000 other blazes burning across the state.

"The entire sky here in Goleta is black with smoke and we're evacuating several more locations," Cal Fire spokeswoman Karen McKinley said on Thursday evening of the Gap Fire, which broke out on Wednesday afternoon and had charred more than 2,400 acres (971 hectares).

Asked how close the flames were to the nearest homes, she said: "It may be at them right now. This is a critical moment."

Meanwhile, the 64,000-acre (25,900 hectare) Basin Complex Fire raged into the night on Thursday in the foothills above the scenic coastal community of Big Sur, where 1,800 homes and businesses were evacuated and 25 miles (40 kms) of coastal highway shut down.

'ITS GETTING SERIOUS'  Continued...