A MAJOR WILDFIRE IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, California, has destroyed more than 100 multi-million dollar mansions in the exclusive Montecito community overnight.
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AP / Steinberg photo
Anticipating a major fire problem after getting weather forecasts calling for high winds in the southern California region starting yesterday, many upstate fire departments had already shifted resources into the area.
The Santa Barbara fire, dubbed the Tea Fire, started up around 6 pm Thursday evening and rapidly spread through 3 sq. miles taking the homes and a college dormitory with it. Many of the people were caught off guard with the unexpected blaze and fiercely fast spread. Another overnight report says that the fire is moving toward Santa Barbara city with 20 homes there burning already.
The Associated Press is reporting:
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 turned out to be houses — many of them sprawling estates — gutted by flame. Palm trees were lit like burning matches.
“It looked like lava coming down a volcano,” Leslie Hollis Lopez said as she gathered belongings from her house.
About 500 firefighters were trying to stop the flames from marching farther west to dense neighborhoods in Santa Barbara.
Fire officials planned an aggressive attack from the air at daybreak Friday with the help of nine water-dropping helicopters and 10 air tankers.
The fire was fanned by evening winds known locally as “sundowners,” which gusted up to 70 mph from land to sea late Thursday. Around sunset, winds shift from the normal onshore flow of cool, moist sea breezes and push downhill from the Santa Ynez Mountains.
The winds weakened overnight, with gusts reaching from 17 to 25 mph, said Jamie Meier, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “We’re expecting conditions to improve for firefighters on the lines, but it will still be warm and dry through tomorrow,” she said.
Updates will be continuing throughout the day.
An early raw video from CNN:
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