LOS
ANGELES — The largest of the Southern California wildfires accelerated
its spread into Santa Barbara County on Saturday, burning through the
outskirts of the wealthy enclave of Montecito, home to many Hollywood
stars.
The
fire, which is now the third largest in modern California history, was
being driven by strong winds that were forecast to continue through
Saturday. Mandatory evacuation orders
were issued for large swaths of the county, including Montecito and
some parts of the city of Santa Barbara. Downtown Santa Barbara remained
under voluntary evacuation, though officials urged residents to leave.
Firefighters
who had been trying to stop the progression of the blaze, known as the
Thomas Fire, by removing brush, clearing land with bulldozers and
dropping thousands of gallons of fire retardant from aircraft were
forced to retreat Saturday as the fire advanced. Hundreds of homes are
in the fire’s path.
In
addition to its pricey real estate, Santa Barbara County is home to a
$1.5 billion agricultural industry that produces strawberries, fresh-cut
flowers and leafy greens.
“It’s
moving faster than what we can possibly do to contain the fire,” said
Joe Rosa, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection, or Cal Fire.
In
Santa Barbara, helicopters hovered in gray and smoky skies, and ashes
speckled the ground everywhere, said Bonnie Marcus, who lives in an
apartment in the eastern part of the city.
“I have never been in a war zone but that is what it felt like,” Ms. Marcus said.
Her phone kept buzzing with alerts about the fire, she said. Most of the residents of her apartment complex had evacuated.
By
late afternoon, she was on the road to a friend’s house near San Diego
with some personal pictures, work files and clothes stashed in a bag.
More
than 8,000 firefighters have been deployed and hundreds had been
ordered into a tactical retreat. “We are not going to put them in harm’s
way to defend a building and have the chance of them not going home to
their families at the end of this event,” Mr. Rosa said.
One
firefighter, Cory Iverson, 32, died Thursday from burns and smoke
inhalation, according to autopsy results announced Saturday.
As
of Saturday evening the fire had burned through at least 267,500 acres
and was 40 percent contained. Cal Fire has records of fires dating to
1932; the largest, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County in October 2003,
burned 273,246 acres.
Winds
that had been gusting up to 65 miles per hour in the hills of Montecito
were less severe by the afternoon, but were still blowing strongly
toward the coast, said Tom Fisher, a meteorologist for the National
Weather Service in Oxnard, a few dozen miles southeast of the fire.
Gusts were still recorded at above 45 miles per hour, and wind patterns had caused humidity to drop, Mr. Fisher added.
“From a firefighter’s point of view that’s still not good,” he said.
Among
the evacuees were Candace Dauphinot and Richard Brumm, real estate
investors who retired to Montecito in 2003 and since 2012 have been
living in the Birnam Wood Golf Club, a gated community of about 140
ranch-style homes valued at $3 million and higher.
Before
even receiving an evacuation order, they gathered some clothes and
their Bichon, Kobe, and hit the road on Friday. “The air quality was
beyond dreadful, and there was a lot of talk about the wind shifting,”
Ms. Dauphinot said.
By
Saturday, the whole golf community had been ordered to leave. Many
residents, including the couple, found refuge at the Ritz-Carlton
Bacara, a resort in Goleta, north of Santa Barbara. From the terraces
overlooking the Pacific Ocean, “we keep looking at the winds and the
skies,” Ms. Dauphinot said.
The
couple were hopeful the golf club would escape harm’s way thanks to its
location in the flatlands of Montecito, which have been spared as the
fire chews through the dry vegetation in the hills and canyons.
The Thomas Fire, which broke out Dec. 4 in Ventura County,
destroyed multi-million-dollar homes and other structures as well as
avocado and lemon orchards there before advancing north up the coast to
neighboring Santa Barbara County.
If
the winds fueling the fire did not subside, experts said, it could turn
into the worst in California’s history. It continued to pose a threat
to both counties late Saturday.
Ned
Doubleday, who owns a home in Toro Canyon with expansive views of
downtown Santa Barbara and the Pacific Ocean, was taking refuge Saturday
in a beachfront condominium with the family Dalmatian, Pepper, and
their cat, Hazel. It was one of the few pockets of Montecito that was
not subjected to mandatory evacuation.
Mr.
Doubleday’s wife, Hilary, and daughters, Serena and Isabelle, who just
arrived home for winter break, left for San Francisco on Saturday, their
car stuffed with their favorite paintings and items of sentimental
value. As far as Mr. Doubleday knew, the blaze that barreled through the
area had not reached their home, protected by a fire line a few hundred
yards away.
Mr.
Doubleday, an investment adviser who has lived in the area for 21
years, described the Thomas Fire’s two-week-long advance through
Southern California as something akin to a “horror-movie monster.”
“It’s
slow but relentless. The heroine keeps falling and the monster keeps
coming,” said Mr. Doubleday, watching as the smoke-tinged bright red sun
lit up the sky over Santa Barbara.
