U.S. wildfire destroys multimillion-dollar LA homes in celebrity enclave

The brush fire quickly engulfed more than 800 acres (320 hectares) in about six hours on Thursday, ripping through entire blocks of mansions in a community dubbed "America's Riviera." Firefighters were largely powerless to stop the destruction. Â

Montecito, whose 10,000 homeowners include actors John Cleese, Christopher Lloyd and Rob Lowe as well as talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, is about 90 miles (145 km) from Los Angeles in coastal Santa Barbara County.

About 2,500 residents were forced to flee the flames, and 20,000 people in the wider area were without power. Four minor injuries were reported.

A residence hall and several classrooms were destroyed at Westmont College, a private Christian university, and about 800 students were evacuated to the school's fireproof gymnasium, where they were out of harm's way.

By early Friday, the relentless fire had spread 5 miles (8 km) north to the fringes of Santa Barbara city, where at least 20 homes were damaged, officials said.

In an unusual -- and risky -- move, three water-dropping helicopters were dispatched to the area. Such missions are not normally undertaken at night. Winds reaching 70 miles per hour (110 km per hour) were an added complication.

Many of the homes in the area are vacation or second homes. Other residents include cell-phone pioneer Craig McCaw, and Google Inc chief executive Eric

Schmidt, who reportedly paid about $20 million for comedian Ellen DeGeneres' compound earlier this year. It was not known if any of these homes were affected.

Southern California is on high wildfire alert this weekend due to unseasonably hot weather, drought conditions and forecasts of strong Santa Ana winds blowing in from the desert.

A year ago, 30 wildfires burned during one week in Southern California, destroying some 2,000 homes and forcing a record 500,000 residents to evacuate.