\nBy Thursday night the blaze – in the hills of coastal town Montecito – had destroyed around 20 homes and forced residents to evacuate.
\nTV helicopters showed several large homes in flames on the steep hillsides of the town near Santa Barbara that also boasts multimillion-dollar mansions and several celebrity residents.
\n‘It may be more than 20 homes so far,’ Santa Barbara city fire official John Ahlman told KTLA TV.
\nSome 400 acres have burned since the fire started at sundown as winds whipped down the hills toward the ocean, around five miles south of the city of Santa Barbara.
\nComedian Cleese recently listed his \u00a36m oceanfront Montecito home, he co-owns with his third ex-wife Alyce Faye Eichelberger, for sale.
\nThe Monty Python star also had an equestrian ranch in the town which he sold in July for \u00a38.3m.
\nThe Santa Maria Times reported that at least 70 structures had been consumed by the fire and some 800 acres had burned.
\nThe paper also reported at least four people have been hospitalized – two for burn injuries and two for smoke inhalation.
\n‘From just watching, it\u2019s grown significantly in size. It\u2019s a very serious situation.
\n‘Emergency personnel are in the area. We\u2019ve got calls out for additional emergency personnel,’ Santa Barbara county spokesman William Boyer told the paper.
\nThe paper also spoke to residents evacuating the area.
\n‘It looked like lava coming down a volcano,’ Leslie Hollis Lopez said as she gathered belongings from her house. ‘It\u2019s very tenuous. We\u2019re hoping the winds are favorable.’
\nMichaelo Rosso told KCAL TV as he prepared to leave his home: ‘You can just hear the explosions … of vehicles, homes,’ . ‘It sounds like the Fourth of July out here.’
\nSouthern 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.
\nA 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"