Wildfire destroys more than 100 California homes

Wildfire destroys more than 100 California homes By Liz Robbins Friday, November 14, 2008 A fast-moving wildfire raced overnight and into the morning through the California hill town of Montecito, a popular hideaway for celebrities near Santa Barbara. The fire, the worst in the area in 30 years, destroyed more than 100 houses, along with a dormitory and several other buildings at Westmont College. At least 13 people were injured and more than 5,000 were evacuated, local officials said. At daybreak Friday, firefighters were trying to contain the blaze, which was spread to more than 2,500 acres by 70-mile-an-hour winds overnight. Although the winds had died down to 15 miles an hour by morning, the weather forecast for later Friday called for warm temperatures, low humidity and rising winds, which would make the fire harder to contain. The injured included at least two firefighters, but none were students at Westmont, a small Christian liberal arts college, according to the Associated Press. "There's imminent threat to many structures, and still an imminent threat within 24 and 48 hours," said Jackie Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the Montecito Fire Protection District. A total of 1,141 people were deployed to fight the fire as of Friday morning, she said. A number of well-known entertainers own homes in the area, including Oprah Winfrey. "I can tell you for sure that Oprah's house is safe, and so is Rob Lowe's," Jenkins said. She said she The blaze is being called the Tea Fire because it started in a local park called the Tea Garden. The most concentrated damage so far has occurred on the Westmont campus, which covers about 111 acres in the hills near Montecito and has about 1,000 students. The college was caught off guard by the rapidly moving flames, according to the Associated Press. "It came pretty fast," Tyler Rollema, a 19-year-old sophomore told the agency. She said she first heard of the fire when she was eating dinner Thursday evening in the cafeteria and students were told to head for the gym immediately. "We came out, and it was just blazing." Some of the injured were being treated for burns and smoke inhalation at the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman, Janet O'Neil, told the Associated Press. The fire started because of "sundowner" winds, unique to the area of Santa Barbara County, and named because of the time of day when they occur. The "sundowners" (a variation of Santa Ana winds) are winds that race down the slopes of the Santa Ynez Mountains toward the ocean around nightfall. Their dangerous force on Thursday sent embers flying that showed no discretion in causing damage, from a college dorm to luxury homes.