MONTECITO, Calif.—Residents piled into cars and fled on Saturday, turning downtown Santa Barbara into “a ghost town” as surging winds drove one of the biggest fires in California’s history toward the city and the nearby wealthy enclave of Montecito. The mandatory evacuations around Montecito and neighboring Summerland came as winds that had eased a day earlier roared back at around 30 miles per hour, with gusts to about 60 mph. Firefighters sprayed water onto hot spots sparked by windblown embers.

Source: Wall Street Journal December 16, 2017 16:37 UTC