RESIDENTS DESERT SANTA BARBARA AS INFERNO LOOMS
RESIDENTS piled into cars and fled at the weekend, turning downtown Santa Barbara into “a ghost town” as surging winds drove one of the biggest fires in California’s history toward the city and the nearby wealthy enclave of Montecito.
The mandatory evacuations around Montecito and Summerland came as winds that had eased roared back at around 50km/h, with gusts to about 100km/h. A portion of Santa Barbara was under mandatory evacuation.
In downtown Santa Barbara, Maya SchoopRutten, owner of Chocolate Maya, said she saw through the window of her chocolate shop smoke suddenly appear.
“It was absolutely incredible,” she said. “It’s a ghost town. Everything is shut down. It’s very, very eerie.”
The 1046sq km blaze called the Thomas fire was moving rapidly westward and crested Montecito Peak, just north of Montecito. The enclave boasts the mansions of Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres and many other celebrities.