SANTA BARBARA — Afternoon winds stoked a day-old brush fire into an out-of-control blaze Wednesday in Santa Barbara, sending it hopscotching across exclusive canyon neighborhoods and leaving firefighters nearly powerless before its advance.
The airborne embers ignited multimillion-dollar homes on the ridgetops. Firefighters did not offer an exact count, but photographers in helicopters in the smoky skies estimated that at least 20 homes had been incinerated.
By night, the fire had torched 500 acres and driven 8,000 people from their homes.
The job of about 900 firefighters, air tankers and helicopters was hampered by poor access to the mountainous terrain, officials said, as well as winds of up to 50 mph and dense brush that hadn't burned in half a century.
"We are in a state of extreme emergency," said David Sadecki, a Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman. "We're running very, very thin."
By 7:30 p.m., winds had begun to die down and firefighters gained some control, though they remained wary that winds could kick up again today and fuel the blaze.
The Jesusita fire, named for a nearby trail, is the city's third major wildfire in nine months.
The fire broke out Tuesday in wildlands and spread through brush north of the city. For most of Tuesday and early Wednesday, the fire seemed relatively tame.
Early Wednesday, firefighters even recalculated the burned acreage to be smaller than first estimated.
Then, about 3 p.m., notorious winds known as sundowners, typical for Santa Barbara this time of year, whipped down through passes and canyons above the city.
The fire leaped into nearby residential areas in Mission Canyon, where mansions are tucked along narrow, winding roads amid thick brush and tall trees -- an area resembling the Oakland hills that burned to the ground in 1991.
As the fire escalated, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County, freeing federal emergency funds.
Three firefighters from Ventura County sustained moderate burns or smoke inhalation. They were taken to Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks.
On Wednesday night, James Massie, 52, was at the Earl Warren Showgrounds, the command post for fire crews, where he had driven to find out whether his three-bedroom house at the top of Mission Canyon had survived.
