November 15, 2008	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 16, 1429

MONTECITO (California), Nov 14: A wind-driven brush fire in Southern California has gutted scores of luxury homes and injured 13 people in the seaside celebrity enclave of Montecito, officials said on Friday.

The blaze erupted on Thursday evening and charred at least 2,000 acres overnight as it roared through entire blocks of mansions in the community northwest of Los Angeles that is dubbed “America’s Riviera.”

Firefighters were largely powerless to stop the destruction as gusts howling at 70 mph fanned the flames through gated estates in the foothills overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The winds were reported to have died down after daybreak.

Montecito, whose 10,000 homeowners include actors John Cleese, Christopher Lloyd and Rob Lowe and talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, is 90 miles from Los Angeles in Santa Barbara County.

About 2,500 residents were forced to flee the flames and 20,000 people in the wider area were without power, officials said.

Some 100 homes were lost and 13 people were hurt, 10 from smoke inhalation and three with burns, the Santa Barbara County emergency operations centre said in a statement. Local news reports said two people were hospitalized with burns.

Local media also said several buildings at Westmont College, a private Christian university, were destroyed but that students and faculty were out of harm’s way in the fireproof gymnasium.

By early Friday, the relentless fire had spread to the fringes of neighbouring Santa Barbara city, where at least 20 homes were damaged, officials said.

Three water-dropping helicopters were dispatched to the area overnight.

Many of the homes in the area are vacation or second homes.

Other famous residents include mobile phone pioneer Craig McCaw and Google Inc chief executive Eric Schmidt, who reportedly paid about $20 million for comedian Ellen DeGeneres’ compound earlier this year. It was not known if any of these homes were affected.

Southern California is on high wildfire alert this weekend due to unseasonably hot weather, drought conditions and forecasts of strong Santa Ana winds blowing in from the desert.—Reuters