A big, wind-driven blaze burnt hundreds of acres and wrecked numerous houses and buildings Thursday in Montecito, Calif., near Santa Barbara. Authorities said the fire broke out at about 5:45 p.m. and the high winds and dry vegetation helped the blaze quickly tear through the region.

Fire rescue officials estimated that the blaze, which was driven by 50- to 70-mph winds, burned at least 800 acres, destroyed up to 80 homes and left authorities with no other alternative but to evacuated the luxurious neighborhoods in the area. Oprah Winfrey and actor Michael Douglas are among the celebrities who own houses there.

The fire broke out in the wealthy Cold Springs area of Montecito and spread very fast overwhelming firefighters.

"It's just moving so fast right now. . . . We're having trouble rounding up enough resources," said Terry McElwee, operation chief for the Montecito Fire Department.

The state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection deployed three helicopters that have been dropping water over the burning area, but they don’t have access to several parts of the area. Firefighters are making huge efforts to deploy engines and equipment to threatened structures.

"It looked like lava coming down a volcano," Leslie Hollis Lopez, an area resident, told the Associated Press news agency.

More than 1,000 homes are threatened by the huge blaze, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection estimated. Westmont College in Santa Barbara is also under threat and students and staff to take cover in the school gym. Several campus structures have been "significantly damaged" by the blaze, according to the Westmont College Web site.

More than 100 firefighters are struggling to contain the blaze which, by 10 p.m. (1 a.m. ET Friday) covered about 350 acres. Evacuations were ordered by local authorities in the area between Mountain Drive and Highway 192 and between Cold Springs and Sycamore Canyon Road in the Montecito area Santa Barbara County. There were "dozens of homes lost," Geri Ventura, administrative secretary for the Montecito Fire Protection District, said.

There were no reports of deaths or severe injuries so far.

The firefighters with the Santa Barbara County and the state and federal forest fire departments who are now battling the blaze will soon be helped by 135 additional fire engines and 20 camp crews who are now on their way to the burning area.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. Fire rescue officials still don’t know when the fire will be contained because the high winds, warm temperatures and dry land and vegetation are working against them.

An estimation of the property damage hasn’t been made yet, but it will surely be high. Although the housing market has been receding, the prices in the Montecito area are still very high as many Southern California celebrities and wealthy people were still interested to buy property there. According to a recently-carried out survey, the top real-estate agent in the United States by sales volume in 2007 was a Santa Barabara/Montecito agent working for Sotheby's International Realty Inc. The agent sold more than $275 million.