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BREAKING NEWS – A wind-driven brush fire destroyed as many as 100 homes Thursday in the hills of the wealthy Southern California coastal town of Montecito, forcing residents to flee what has long been a hideaway for the rich and famous.

Tea Fire has moved West, and has entered the City of Santa Barbara. The number of structures consumed by the blaze has not yet been confirmed, but it is reported to be over 100.

Currently, KCAL TV news reports that 20,000 people are without power as a result of the fire. Mandatory evacuations have been issued north of Highway 192 between Hot Springs and Cold Springs Roads. An evacuation shelter has been set up by the American Red Cross at San Marcos High School – located at the intersection of Turnpike Road and Hollister Avenue. Shelter for large animals has been set up at Earl Warren Showgrounds, and for small animals at the Humane Society on Patterson Avenue, south of the freeway.
One Santa Barbara resident described the area as deserted.

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

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Santa Barbara County officials said about 125 engines and three water-dropping helicopters were en route or at the scene. 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 fire temporarily knocked out power to more than 20,000 homes in Santa Barbara, said Southern California Edison spokesman Paul Klein. He said only scattered pockets of homes were without power by late Thursday.

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