Font Resize Fire destroys 80 homes, injures 4 in Montecito

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Firefighters were racing early Friday to push back a wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed about 80 homes and a college dormitory in the tony community of Montecito, injured four people and forced thousands to flee the longtime celebrity hideaway.

The fire broke out around 6 p.m. Thursday and quickly spread to about 2,000 acres—more than 3 square miles—destroying dozens of luxury homes and parts of a college campus in the foothills of Montecito, just southeast of Santa Barbara. About 5,400 of the community's 14,000 residents were evacuated and more could be forced to flee if the fire spreads, said Terri Nisich, a spokeswoman with the San Barbara County Executive Office.

At Westmont College, a Christian liberal arts college nestled amid wooded rolling hills, some 1,000 students were caught off-guard by the rapidly moving flames.

"It came pretty fast," said Tyler Rollema, a 19-year-old sophomore, who was eating dinner in the cafeteria when students were told to head to the gym. "We came out and it was just blazing."

Thousands of feet above the flames, footage shot from television helicopters showed what initially looked like a massive campfire with dozens of glowing embers. When cameras zoomed in, however, what appeared to be flaring coals were actually houses—many of them sprawling estates—gutted by flame. Palm trees were lit like burning matches.