A wind-whipped brush fire in the coastal hills near Santa Barbara, Calif., ripped through one of the most expensive residential areas in the U.S., destroying more than 100 homes.The fire was centered in the hills near Montecito, a wealthy enclave of about 10,000 residents in a Mediterranean-like setting, where large, estate-style properties are common, and homeowners include Oprah Winfrey, actor Rob Lowe and a host of top executives and entrepreneurs. The blaze broke out Thursday evening near Westmont College, a private Christian school, and soon overwhelmed dozens of nearby homes.
Flames in Montecito
Firefighters look for hot spots as wildfires burn out of control in the hills of Montecito, Calif., Friday.
The blaze spread to about four square miles and did most of its damage overnight. Calmer winds early Friday assisted firefighter efforts, but officials have not said when the fire would be contained. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency, and by mid-morning Friday, more than 500 firefighters from departments around the state were helping. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Only a few minor injuries were reported.
Kevin O'Connor, co-founder of Internet advertisement-technology company DoubleClick, owns an estate across the road from a former private tea garden where officials say the fire started. He said his wife arrived home Thursday evening with one of their three children and saw the flames. Mr. O'Connor was traveling. "I woke up this morning and thought our place was gone," he said Friday. "Surprisingly, it wasn't." The family worried, however, that their home could still be at risk on Friday.
Mr. O'Connor's estate, which was built in 1918, features a renovated 13,000-square-foot Italian-inspired mansion on more than six hillside acres. It is listed for sale for $35 million, though after the fire, he says, "I doubt if it will be on the market anymore."
A destroyed Porsche sits in the driveway of a house that burned in Montecito, Calif., one of the wealthiest residential neighborhoods in the U.S. The fire broke out Thursday night and burned more than 100 houses over four square miles in the coastal foothills southeast of Santa Barbara.
Property losses from the fire are likely to be high. Montecito lies along the so-called Gold Coast of California, one of the most expensive real-estate markets in the country. The median price of homes sold in the area in September was $935,000, compared with a statewide level of $316,480, according to the California Association of Realtors. Although the median home price has fallen some 40% in the past year in that part of Santa Barbara County, Montecito still boasts a relatively strong market for multimillion-dollar homes, real-estate brokers say.
In addition to historic estates, the area's neighborhoods have smaller homes, where even the lots are worth more than $1 million, said Randy Solakian, who markets estates and ranches for Coldwell Banker Previews International. He was among 9,000 evacuees, including 4,500 ordered to leave their homes.
Even several smaller homes in the fire area are worth at least $3 million, according to Suzanne Perkins, a prominent agent with Sotheby's International Realty. "We kind of dug our own grave by not allowing controlled burns," she said.
Some 27 homes with listing prices of more than $10 million are on the market. Steve Deutsch, vice president of First Choice Private Mortgage Bank, said he closed two mortgages on homes worth $10 million in the past month. One home was in the fire area, he said, but he didn't know whether it burned.
Nearly a hundred homes have been destroyed by wildfires in Santa Barbara, California. Firefighters fear many more could be in harms way. Courtesy Fox News. (Nov. 14)
Montecito has been a resort destination and refuge for the wealthy for more than a century. East Coast industrialists bought land and built large estates. Later, Hollywood stars and moguls gravitated to the community, known for a landscape that is uncommonly lush for Southern California. Eucalyptus and palm trees shade winding canyon roads. Stone walls and hedges shield vast residential estates.
Those same attractions can put homeowners at risk. The Montecito Fire Protection District, which provides full-time protection services to the area from two fire stations, says on its Web site that the last major fire was in 1990. Three previous fires since 1964 have also passed through the community, destroying houses and taking lives.
Like most communities built within California's so-called urban-wildland interface, the local fire department requires homeowners to clear the brush surrounding their homes. Montecito's homes are lush with foliage and old trees, including highly flammable eucalyptus.
The local fire agency plainly warns its citizens: "Wildland fires have always been a part of Montecito's natural environment. Areas of Montecito will burn again. This is not maybe. This is a given."
Tim Buckley, editor and associate publisher of the Montecito Journal, a local publication, said the mountains above Montecito haven't burned in decades.
For now, even the people who make a living off the area's real-estate wonders are on the run. Local agent Dan Encell says he was dining with his family last night in Santa Barbara when he learned they would need to evacuate their 4,500 square-foot house. "We took pictures and jewelry and that was it," he said by cellphone. He spoke while en route to another property he owned, a vineyard in nearby Paso Robles, Calif.
