Montecito Home to Many Celebs Loses 100 Homes to Wildfire

The fire broke out just before 6 PM Thursday night. By early Friday it had spread to 2,500 acres, destroying dozens of luxury homes and parts of the Westmont College campus in the foothills of Montecito, just southeast of Santa Barbara.

An earlier update from Westmont College itself indicated a gas line had broken, so all gas to the campus had been shut off. Some faculty housing as well as a dormitory had been engulfed by the flames.

Meanwhile, many focused their attention on the somewhat hidden aspect of Montecito: its claim to fame is as a sort of enclave for celebrities.

Montecito is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Barbara County, California. A CDP is an unincorporated community that is, for statistical reasons, designated as a community by the Census Bureau.

Montecito is home to many celebrities, including: Oprah Winfrey, Carol Burnett, Jonathan Winters, Steve Martin, John Cleese, Rob Lowe, Jimmy Connors, Christopher Lloyd, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Costner, Kirk Douglas, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Ellen DeGeneres.

It's unknown which of the above, or any others, may have been affected by the fire. The fire was fanned by evening winds known locally as "sundowners," which gusted up to 70 MPH. Winds were expected to die down on Friday.