A5

Thomas Watkins
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Firefighters struggled to control a raging wildfire Friday that destroyed more than 100 homes and injured 13 people in the California coastal town Santa Barbara that has been home to celebrities from Charlie Chaplin to Oprah Winfrey.

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Reed Saxon/the associated press

A burned vintage Pontiac is seen in front of a destroyed home Friday in Montecito, Calif.

Mark J. Terrill/the associated press

A mansion burns in the foreground as another burns in the background during a wildfire Friday in Santa Barbara, Calif. An official in Santa Barbara County says the fire has destroyed about 70 homes in the upscale community of Montecito.

Firefighters said they had to work fast before winds picked up. Evening winds known locally as "sundowners," gusting up to 113 kilometres an hour from land to sea, pushed the fire with frightening speed Thursday, chewing up mansions, exploding eucalyptus trees and turning rolling hills into a glowing nightmare.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County on Friday as residents waited anxiously for word of their homes. Many of them fled flames with just a few minutes' notice.

Helicopter pilots worked through the night, using night-vision goggles to drop water on the flames. At daybreak Friday, nearly 20 copters and air tankers were on the job, emergency officials said.

"We're going to have a very, very tough day today for firefighting and when the winds kick up this afternoon, we're going to have an incredibly challenging situation," said Santa Barbara County fire chief Ron Prince.

"Control of this fire is not even in sight."

Authorities said the fire broke out just before 6 p.m. local time Thursday and spread to about 10 square kilometres by early Friday. It destroyed dozens of luxury homes and parts of a college campus in the tony community Montecito and an unknown number of homes in neighbouring Santa Barbara. The cause was not immediately known. There was no estimate for containment.

Tom Bain said authorities ordered him to leave his home around midnight. He quickly collected his three cats, work files and computer and was out of his house within five minutes. On his way out, Bain saw at least six mansions on a ridge above his home explode into flames.

"I saw $15 million in houses burn, without a doubt," the 54-year-old electrician said.

"They were just blowing up. It was really, intensely hot."

Montecito, a quiet enclave known for its Mediterranean-like climate and charming Spanish colonial homes, has long attracted celebrities.

Oprah Winfrey and Rob Lowe are among the homeowners there, though their publicists said their homes had not been destroyed and neither was in the area Thursday night. Michael Douglas and his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, also have a home in the area.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown, who flew over the burn area early Friday, said the Mount Calvary Benedictine monastery appeared to be completely destroyed and he counted more than 80 homes burned to the ground, many in the winding streets around Westmont College.