Wildfire Near Santa Barbara Engulfs Up to 100 Homes

A wind-driven brush fire destroyed as many as 100 homes Thursday in the hills of the wealthy Southern California coastal town of Montecito, forcing residents to flee what has long been a hideaway for the rich and famous.

Montecito fire spokeswoman Geri Ventura said she did not know exactly how many homes had burned, but television footage showed flames engulfing dozens of large multimillion-dollar houses. Ventura said about a quarter of the community of 10,000 people was evacuated and more could be moved if the fire spreads.

The fire broke out shortly before 6 p.m. and quickly spread through more than 300 acres in the foothills five miles south of Santa Barbara. Several fire departments were battling the flames as thick plumes of smoke hovered overhead.

"It looked like lava coming down a volcano," Leslie Hollis Lopez told The Associated Press as she gathered belongings from her house.

It was immediately not known whether any celebrities' homes had burned or whether anyone was injured.

One resident described the area as deserted.

"You can just hear the explosions ... of vehicles, homes," Michaelo Rosso told KCAL-TV as he prepared to leave his home. "It sounds like the Fourth of July out here."

Santa Barbara County officials said about 125 engines and three water-dropping helicopters were en route or at the scene. Firefighters faced wind gusts as high as 70 mph Thursday night. Gusts were expected to remain strong through early Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

The fire temporarily knocked out power to more than 20,000 homes in Santa Barbara, said Southern California Edison spokesman Paul Klein. He said only scattered pockets of homes were without power by late Thursday.

Click to view photos of the flames

:www.foxnews.com

Sheldon Zabel

He was the son of a South Dakota scrap yard owner, but attorney Sheldon Zabel had a lifelong fascination with nature and helped start one of Illinois' first environmental law groups.

Mr. Zabel spent his career at Schiff Hardin, where the Princeton University-trained economist fell into environmental law because he was the only Sierra Club member when the firm was hired on an environmental case about 40 years ago.

Mr. Zabel, who lived in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood, eventually became "one of the country's leading environmental lawyers," said Deborah Golden, general counsel of GATX Corp., who had worked with Mr. Zabel in prior positions.

"He had this incredible intellectual capacity. He knew every bit and piece of every statute, and he was able to see the humor in certain situations. He could also make things fun," Golden said.

Mr. Zabel, 67, died Friday, Oct. 17,
of lung cancer in Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Bobbi Zabel said her husband loved bird-watching, hiking, skiing and hunting, taking her to some unusual places on their 1975 South Dakota honeymoon.

"We visited a coal gasification plant," said his wife, who enjoyed the trip. "And he bought me a rock hammer, and we went hunting for agates [a kind of semiprecious stone]. I thought it was funny to see the work crew's reaction when we told them we were on our honeymoon."

Among the major cases Mr. Zabel handled, he was lead trial counsel for Dynegy Midwest Generation in a lawsuit brought by the Environment Protection Agency alleging the company had violated the Clean Air Act.

He was also the arbitrator in a contract dispute between a large coal company and a utility, according to his law firm, and was able to help with father, Louis, when his scrap yard ran into environmental problems, his wife said.

Mr. Zabel enjoyed satire and was a supporter of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, his wife said.

His love of the stage came from his mother, Anne, who performed in community theater productions in Sioux Falls, S.D, his wife said.

He was diagnosed with lung cancer about 18 months ago, but he lived to see his oldest son, Andrew, graduate with a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh in May.

"It was really very special," his wife said. "You savor those moments."

He also is survived by two other sons, Douglas and Robert, and a brother, William.

A service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday in Temple Sholom, 3480 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago.