Wildfire Burns 100 Homes, Dorm In Calif.

Explosive Blaze Also Injures 13 In Ritzy Montecito, About 2,500 Acres Scorched

(CBS/AP)  Firefighters and a squadron of aircraft launched a desperate daylight attack Friday to push back a wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed at least 100 homes and a college dormitory, and forced thousands to flee the longtime celebrity hideaway of Montecito.

At least 13 people were injured. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proclaimed a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County.

The governor's declaration on Friday dedicates state personnel and equipment to the firefighting effort. It also says the Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to give California a grant to help fight the fire.

The blaze broke out just before 6 p.m. Thursday and spread to about 2,500 acres - nearly 4 square miles - by early Friday, destroying dozens of luxury homes and parts of a college campus in the foothills of Montecito, just southeast of Santa Barbara.

CBS News correspondent Hattie Kauffman reports that many mansions that dot the landscape were quickly engulfed in flames as the wind-whipped fire swirled uncontrollably.

"I saw $15 million in houses burn, without a doubt," Santa Barbara evacuee Tom Bain said. "They were just blowing up. It was really, intensely hot."

Within less than six hours, it destroyed dozens of luxury homes and several buildings on the campus of Westmont College, a Christian liberal arts college nestled amid wooded rolling hills, where 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."

Fire officials began an aggressive attack from the air at daybreak with the help of nine water-dropping helicopters and 10 air tankers, said Terri Nisich, a spokeswoman with the Santa Barbara County Executive Office. A high wind warning was in effect in Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Saturday, with possible gusts of up to 70 mph in some passes and canyons.

Earlier, Nicole Koon, another county spokeswoman, said about 5,400 homes were evacuated in tony Montecito, which has 14,000 residents and counts celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Michael Douglas as homeowners.

She had no immediate detail on the damage and evacuations in neighboring Santa Barbara.

By Friday morning, the city's downtown was filled with dense, acrid smoke and people walked on the streets with towels and masks over their faces.

Michele Mickiewicz, a spokeswoman with the county emergency operations center, said Friday that 10 people were treated for smoke inhalation and three had burn injuries. Earlier, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital reported receiving two patients with substantial burns.

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.

With Santa Ana winds gusting over 50 miles an hour, keeping the water-dropping helicopters grounded for hours, it was nearly impossible for firefighters on the ground to attack the blaze.

About 500 firefighters are racing to stop the flames from spreading west to Santa Barbara and downhill toward more homes.

KCAL's helicopter crew, reporting from over the blaze, said the fire was jumping from house to house, in some cases right over the heads of firefighting crews trying desperately to contain it.

From the air, you could see home after home after home engulfed in flames.

"Absolute devastation," said one pilot.

"It looked like lava coming down a volcano," Leslie Hollis Lopez said as she gathered belongings from her house.

(Left: Residents watch a home burn in the hills above Santa Barbara, Calif., Nov. 13, 2008.)

Tom Bain, a 54-year-old electrician, said authorities ordered him to leave his home in Santa Barbara around midnight.

Bain quickly collected his three cats, his work files and his computer and was out his house within five minutes. On his way out, he saw at least six mansions on a ridge above his home explode into flames and the cool night air was warmed to about 80 degrees by the fire.

"You can just hear the explosions ... of vehicles, homes," Michaelo Rosso told CBS affiliate KCAL-TV as he prepared to leave his home. "It sounds like the Fourth of July out here."

About 200 people spent the night at an evacuation center at a high school in nearby Goleta, but rest was out of the question for Ed Naha. He was worried about his home in the hills above Santa Barbara.

"I don't think we are going to have the house when we go back," Naha said.

The 58-year-old writer had been home working on his computer when smoke blanketed his house. He gathered his insurance documents, his wife and two dogs and left as flames approached his neighborhood.

"We are used to seeing smoke because we do have fires up here, but I've never seen that reddish, hellish glow that close," he said. "I was waiting for Dante and Virgil to show up."

At Westmont College, the air was dense with smoke and the scent of burning pine. Students holed up in the school's gym as flames chewed through a eucalyptus grove on the 135-acre campus and destroyed several buildings housing the physics and psychology departments, a dormitory and at least one faculty home, college spokesman Scott Craig said.

"I saw flames about 100 feet high in the air shooting up with the wind just howling," he told AP Radio. "Now when the wind howls and you've got palm trees and eucalyptus trees that are literally exploding with their hot oil, you've got these big, red hot embers that are flying through the sky and are catching anything on fire."

"I was terrified," one woman told CBS News. "The gym was filled with smoke. The smoke was coming through the vents. And we could see flames right outside."

Beth Lazor, 18, said she was in her dorm when the alarm went off. She said she only had time to grab her laptop, phone, a teddy bear and a debit card before fleeing the burning building.

Her roommate, Catherine Wilson, said she didn't have time to get anything.

"I came out and the whole hill was glowing," Wilson said. "There were embers falling down."

The college said on its Web site it was considering moving the students to a Red Cross shelter if they can get safely through the fire.

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.

The fire temporarily knocked out power to more than 20,000 homes in Santa Barbara, Southern California Edison spokesman Paul Klein said

The very bad news is that the Santa Ana winds and the hot dry weather are expected to last through the weekend.

A red flag warning for Los Angeles and Ventura counties is in effect from 8 a.m. today to 4 p.m. tomorrow.

Firefighters faced wind gusts as high as 70 mph Thursday night. Gusts were expected to remain strong through early Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard. The fierce winds (known locally as "sundowners") blow from land to sea in the evening, reversing the normal onshore flow of cool, moist sea breezes. They are caused by the area's unique topography.

Montecito and its multimillion-dollar homes with ocean views have long attracted celebrities such as Michael Douglas, Robe Lowe and Oprah Winfrey, who owns a 42-acre estate there. The landmark Montecito Inn was built in the 1920s by Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle, and the nearby San Ysidro Ranch was the honeymoon site of John F. Kennedy in 1953.

Publicists for Lowe and Winfrey told the AP the celebrities' homes had not been destroyed and that neither was staying in the area Thursday night.

Montecito suffered a major fire in 1977, when more than 200 homes burned.

[wl7bzh]

Hey, what gives with the disaster? They passed Prop 8.
In theory there should be no more disaster. : )

[pirmin3]

It''s just a bunch of rich sob''s who had their mansions burn. Who cares??

[blublucollar]

Hey you moron gop_will_win: The GOP_DID_LOSE and there is no connection between fires, hurricanes, tornados, except in your very small mind. Fires have been a NATURAL part of the California landscape long before the first settlers arrived 14,000 year ago. You wingnuts really are freaks

[boypadilla-2009]

THIS FIRE NOT SENT FROM GOD SOME FOOL STARTED IT. AND MAY GOD HELP THE FAMILY''S THAT HAVE LOST THERE HOME''S
GOD BLESS YOU

[gop_will_win]

Hey you moron gop_will_win: The GOP_DID_LOSE and there is no connection between fires, hurricanes, tornados, except in your very small mind. Fires have been a NATURAL part of the California landscape long before the first settlers arrived 14,000 year ago. You wingnuts really are freaks


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Posted by blublucollar
=========================
You know, its people like you who are causing these terrible things by your lack of faith in the Lord.

[gop_will_win]

THIS FIRE NOT SENT FROM GOD SOME FOOL STARTED IT. AND MAY GOD HELP THE FAMILY''''S THAT HAVE LOST THERE HOME''''S
GOD BLESS YOU


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Posted by boypadilla
======================
He will help them only if they have faith and believe in him and thats obviously not the case now because why did their home burn to begin with.

[blackbabymom]

It''''s just a bunch of rich sob''''s who had their mansions burn. Who cares??
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Posted by pirmin3

Exactly and they should feel lucky because once Obama is President, the poor people will be aloowed in to loot whatever they can save. It is called SPREADING THE WEALTH.

[easeup-2009]

Posted by gop_will_win at 09:13 AM : Nov 14, 2008

Keep fighting the good fight, brother! Here''s an inspirational passage to help you do the Lord''s work:

"Come, follow me, Jesus said, ''and I will make you fishers of men.'' At once they left their
nets and followed him." Matthew 4:19-20

God bless

These Californians! Always finding ways to avoid foreclosure.

[myopinion381]

Time to take your meds again gop_will_win. The voices are back . . .

[wl7bzh]

Homeowners in Florida are getting calls from homeowners in California asking how to start a hurricane-seems insurance companies are getting a little suspicious of all the fires.

[slim1h2o]

The only way to put those fires out, is to have the "Big One" that they practiced for yesterday.

If the state slides into the ocean, they''ll have all the water they need.

[xlib]

blublucollar-so when there were hurricanes, wildfires (thanks sierra club for baning culling of forests, what''s left is called KINDLING!!)it was due to global warming. Now, with the chosen one standing in the wings it''s a natural disaster. My, my how things change.
Now, where''s all the angst and glee about the rich, rich getting thier due?? Oh, the poor lear/limo libs.

[ardiva1]

Whether the people living there are rich or not, it''s still a devastating scene.

[slim1h2o]

The sooner that states dissapears the better off this country will be!

Posted by au_fait at 10:08 AM : Nov 14, 2008

Don''t worry. By the time that happens, the U.S. will have self destructed by then anyways.

[jlagat]

It''s not our fault that our state is in the craphole its been.

Let''s blame California since they are so much richer and better off than ours.

Posted by au_fait at 10:08 AM : Nov 14, 2008

Typical fascist.

You see California the way the rest of the world sees America.

Go ahead and be jealous. It won''t change the fact that more people want to live in California than in whatever sh*thole state you live in.

[lloydbest1]

Let''s try to remember there are real people up in those hills losing real homes. Rich; poor; somewhere in between, it makes little difference if it is you or a loved one.
A loss like this is never fully recoverable, even with insurance. The wedding pictures, the child''s first teddy bear, the old man''s favorite coffee mug, the prom dress, the bowling trophy, that special tee shirt, the combat medals.....All those keepsakes; the stuff that is worthless to me and practically everyone else - but to the owner. You don''t get that back no matter how well you''re compensated.
You can rebuild your home but rebuilding your life is a tougher thing altogether. My thoughts go out to those whose lives are disrupted by this disaster.

[chordmonkey]

Burn, Baby Burn...LOL

[observer2020]

You can rebuild your home but rebuilding your life is a tougher thing altogether. My thoughts go out to those whose lives are disrupted by this disaster.
Posted by LloydBest1

My thoughts and prayers go out to these people who have to attempt to rebuild their lives with nothing. Insurance companies certainly do not even get close to compensating you on your loss.

Going to delete this one CBS?

[nojoy01]

H-m-m-m, I wonder how many of those homes were in foreclosure?

[gdinsb]

Wonderful, religious bigots are reveling in this disaster. What they don''t realize is that Westmont College, a Christian school, was one of the first things under threat by this fire. Academic buildings, dorms, and prof''s homes have all burned there.

This is not God punishing Californians. This is not God punishing Christians. This is nature being nature in a climate where wildfires are part of the ecosystem. People obviously take a risk living in this ecosystem, but it is the same risk as living near the Mississippi. Every few decades, there will be a disaster.

Show some humanity, people.

[slim1h2o]

Posted by Insurgeon1 at 12:44 PM : Nov 14, 2008

Can''t say I disagree with ya....

[gdinsb]

Wonderful, religious bigots are reveling in this disaster. What they don''t realize is that Westmont College, a Christian school, was one of the first things under threat by this fire. Academic buildings, dorms, and prof''s homes have all burned there.

This is not God punishing Californians. This is not God punishing Christians. This is nature being nature in a climate where wildfires are part of the ecosystem. People obviously take a risk living in this ecosystem, but it is the same risk as living near the Mississippi. Every few decades, there will be a disaster.

Show some humanity, people.

[easeup-2009]

Welcome to America. Where we cheer the misery of our own countrymen. This nation needs to be wiped off of the map like the sh-t stain that it is. Burned to the ground. Set asunder and fueled by its own hubris and conceit. Burn Baby Burn. LOL

Posted by Insurgeon1 at 12:44 PM : Nov 14, 2008

1st time on a message board?

[blackbabymom]

Insurgeon1 will be the one begging for forgiveness during his dying hours.

[niceface19]

WHERE ARE ALL THOSE HELLICOPTERS BUILT BY TAX DOLLARS MONEY??????//////?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????/

[niceface19]

THIS GOVERNMENT IS TOTALLY CORRUPTED?????????????????????
NOTHING THEY DO IS RIGHT./??????????????????

[usclimey]

Let''''s try to remember there are real people up in those hills losing real homes. Rich; poor; somewhere in between, it makes little difference if it is you or a loved one.
A loss like this is never fully recoverable, even with insurance. The wedding pictures, the child''''s first teddy bear, the old man''''s favorite coffee mug, the prom dress, the bowling trophy, that special tee shirt, the combat medals.....All those keepsakes; the stuff that is worthless to me and practically everyone else - but to the owner. You don''''t get that back no matter how well you''''re compensated.
You can rebuild your home but rebuilding your life is a tougher thing altogether. My thoughts go out to those whose lives are disrupted by this disaster.

Posted by LloydBest1

I''m reposting Lloyd''s contribution because it deserves it and it says just what I was going to post but way than I would have put it. Thanks Lloyd

[usclimey]

What sh*thole state, hmm I belive Florida has outranked California on the place to move.

Posted by au_fait

That''s only because NewYork Jews are the only people who can afford to move any more.

[usclimey]

H-m-m-m, I wonder how many of those homes were in foreclosure?

Posted by nojoy01

Probably not many. Santa Barbara has strong over development laws so the place has been essentially "full" for years now. Most of the homes, especially in Montecito, have long term residents who''s mortgages are paid up. Hopefully they''ll have kept their insurance up with the house prices, otherwise they''ll be in deep doodoo.

[usclimey]

BTW, don''''t assume to know something about someone as in the state they as you made an as# out of your yourself.

Posted by au_fait

Have you ever BEEN to California? I lived in LA for 25 years from 1979. It was a wonderful place to live. Moved out in 2001, overcrowded, expensive, way too many Republicans moving out of Orange County. The North''s still gorgeous though.

[donevis-2009]

It''s okay, we''re bailing out AIG so they can still party, oops I mean help out these big estate owners. We surly don''t want them to be hurt by all this inconvenience.

[donevis-2009]

Ha, Look at the Map, Its a BUSH FIRE. ARREST THE MURDERER.

[au_fait]

I know it is gorgeous and a place to visit. I enjoy my feedoms and choose not (sorry wish not) to live in a state where others decide what is best for me. Not that florida is better, but we tend to have people with more realistic opinions ands thoughts. this is not a utopian society and we should treat it as such.

[socialismsux]

Go do penance for your child molester priests hypocrite, then come spew your faux sanctimony when you''''re done. May be a while though.


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Posted by Insurgeon1 at 01:57 PM : Nov 14, 2008


Every individual is held accountable for their own sins in life, including those sicko priests, and you.

[easeup-2009]

Let''s say you have to move out of your $2 million home that is now worth $900,000. Let''s say there hasn''t been an appraisal since before the housing market tanked and your house is still valued at $2 million.

Let''s say you have some oily rags and a full gas can in the garage......

[au_fait]

That''''s only because NewYork Jews are the only people who can afford to move any more.

Posted by usclimey

That is actually funny. Still laughing

[easeup-2009]

Posted by usclimey at 01:59 PM : Nov 14, 2008

Limey--BEWARE THE CARDINAL!!! LOL

[colt8881]

Its a Fire, either somebody intentionally set this fire or it was caused by lightning.

These Fires in September thru November in California are nothing new it happens EVERY YEAR.

God did not cause this fire.

[petro49l]

Remember Mike Brown''s incompetence at the New Orleans flooding in 2005? FEMA is required by law to prepare for wild fire emergencies and evacuate potential Victims of the disaster. The Agency must plan and eliminate hazards that will cause catastrophe. FEMA has failed to meet the challenge. California must be protected from costly and deadly forest fires. President Obama should terminate FEMA''s senior managers and hire effective Fire Fighters who can control the danger.

[blackbabymom]

See - my point exactly. Look at these hypocrites. This is what Christianity has become. And you differ from Muslim extremists how exactly? You are the American Taliban. And you will be wiped away like the Taliban you traitors.
--------------------------------------
Posted by Insurgeon1

JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHY ABORTIONS SHOULD BE LEGAL. IF THEY WERE THIS C U M STAIN WOULD BE WIPED UP AND CLEANED ALREADY. THEN WE WOULD NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS NUISANCE.

[usclimey]

Limey--BEWARE THE CARDINAL!!! LOL

Posted by easeup

If we can beat the Bears, ya don''t think we can be a tree???? LOL BAY

[blackbabymom]

Hahahaha! So abortion is OK as long as it''''s people you don''''t like? Perfect. You are the consumate Christian hypocrite. LOL
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Posted by Insurgeon1

who said I do not like you? I just think that when GOD was handing out brains and wisdom - you must of been in the bathroom jerking off. That is all C U M stain

[usclimey]

If we can beat the Bears, ya don''''t think we can be a tree???? LOL BAY

Sorry - that should be BEAT a tree, not BE a tree!!!

[easeup-2009]

Sorry - that should be BEAT a tree, not BE a tree!!!

Posted by usclimey at 03:01 PM : Nov 14, 2008

I am hoping for another shot for my Buckeyes vs. USC in the Rose Bowl!

[socialismsux]

And it is my beliefe that my brain evolved over millions of years
posted by Insurgeon1

-So your mom was pregnant for "millions of years?"

Wow.

[questionnews]

Remember Mike Brown''''s incompetence at the New Orleans flooding in 2005? FEMA is required by law to prepare for wild fire emergencies and evacuate potential Victims of the disaster. The Agency must plan and eliminate hazards that will cause catastrophe. FEMA has failed to meet the challenge. California must be protected from costly and deadly forest fires. President Obama should terminate FEMA''''s senior managers and hire effective Fire Fighters who can control the danger.

Posted by Petro49L at 02:55 PM : Nov 14, 2008

"The Agency must plan and eliminate hazards that will cause catastrophe." ????

How do you plan to stop the 50 to 70 mph winds and a pyro with a lighter???

Also, these fires were a natural process for hundreds of thousands of years. They burned every few years until humans decided that was inconvenient for them & that putting out all fires was a good thing to do without realizing that all your doing is allowing for great amounts of fuel to build up. Then you get real big fires. Unless you plan to poison the plants & defoliate California the fires will continue.

[slim1h2o]

I am hoping for another shot for my Buckeyes vs. USC in the Rose Bowl!

Posted by easeup at 03:05 PM : Nov 14, 2008

Sorry, neither team should be vying for a National Championship.

Both teams are playing in the two worst BCS conferences in the country.

Ya gotta go thru Tx Tech and Texas 1st....

[socialismsux]

am hoping for another shot for my Buckeyes vs. USC in the Rose Bowl!




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Posted by easeup at 03:05 PM : Nov 14, 2008


Ditto. Go Bucks. We get SC at home next year though, with a seasone Terrell Pryor at QB.

We need to finish out with solid victories this year again Illinois and Michigan though. First things first!

[socialismsux]

You and BlackBabyMom must have been in the same 3rd grade class.


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Posted by Insurgeon1 at 03:10 PM : Nov 14, 2008

LOL.

Childish insults. A typical tactic of Darwinists when they can''t answer a question.

Hey buddy, it''s you who said you believe YOUR brain took "millions of years" to evolve.

Not anyone else.

You just can''t take a joke because you''re an intolerant Darwinist