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Firefighters overwhelmed by raging Calif. wildfire
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-15 14:20 SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Firefighters struggled Friday against an out-of-control wildfire that destroyed at least 100 homes in a wealthy, celebrity-studded enclave, flaring up so fast that it caught some terrified residents behind the automatic gates of their mansions.
Blistering winds gusting to 70 mph, dry brush and oil-rich eucalyptus trees helped turn an ordinary brush fire into an exploding inferno that quickly consumed rows of luxury homes and part of a Christian college campus where students spent the night in a gymnasium shelter, some praying and others sobbing. "That whole mountain over there went up at once. Boom," said Bob McNall, 70, who with his son and grandson saved their home by hosing it down. "The whole sky was full of embers, there was nothing that they could do. It was just too much." A state of emergency was declared in Santa Barbara County and about 5,400 homes were evacuated in Montecito. Residents waited anxiously for word of their homes after fleeing with just a few minutes' notice. One 91-year-old man said he left with just his glasses and his wallet. Lowe said he fled with his children as fire engulfed the mountain and flames shot 200 feet in the air. The family stopped to check on neighbors and found them trapped behind their automatic car gate, which was stuck because the power was out. Lowe said he helped get the big gates open. "Embers were falling. Wind was 70 miles an hour, easily, and it was just like Armageddon," Lowe told KABC-TV. "You couldn't hear yourself think." Lowe said his house hadn't burned. More than 1,000 firefighters were trying to gain an edge on the blaze before the region's famous "sundowner" winds, which roar down the mountains to the sea as the sun sets, picked up again, said Santa Barbara Fire Chief Ron Prince. "Control of this fire is not even in sight," Prince said. Fueled by vast stands of oil-rich eucalyptus trees, which exploded when lit, and decades of chaparral and other growth, the fire quickly spread to about 2,500 acres, nearly 4 square miles, by early Friday. Ten people were treated for smoke inhalation and three others had burns, said Michele Mickiewicz, a spokeswoman with the county emergency operations center. Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital reported receiving three patients with substantial burns. The fire destroyed the Mount Calvary Benedictine monastery and burned more than 80 homes to the ground, said Santa Barbara Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown, who flew over the burn area about 120 miles north of Los Angeles early Friday. Many of the homes were in the winding streets around Westmont College. At the Christian liberal arts school, 1,000 students were evacuated. About 300 spent the night on cots in the gym. Some stood in groups praying; others sobbed openly and comforted each other. Flames chewed through a eucalyptus grove on the 110-acre campus and destroyed several buildings housing the physics and psychology departments, at least three dormitories and 14 faculty homes, college spokesman Scott Craig said. "I saw flames about 100 feet high in the air shooting up with the wind just howling," he said. 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." |
