Thousands of residents in southern California were forced to flee their homes on Tuesday due to a wind-driven wildfire burning in mountains near Santa Barbara.
County officials declared a “local emergency” after the fire erupted, and spread quickly on Monday, scorching thousands of hectares of land in the process.
Santa Barbara county fire spokesman, Mike Eliason said that as many as 6,300 people had been evacuated and about 2,400 structures were being currently threatened by the blaze.