Early this morning, hundreds of Westmont College students staked out in the college gym to stay safe from a wildfire which so far has wiped out eighty homes in Montecito, California. The Montecito fire has also destroyed a eucalyptus grove, some academic buildings, one dorm, and at least one faculty home. It has knocked out power in approximately 20,000 Santa Barbara homes.

The AP reports:

Firefighters were racing early Friday to push back a wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed about 80 homes and a college dormitory in the tony community of Montecito, injured four people and forced thousands to flee the longtime celebrity hideaway.

The fire broke out around 6 p.m. Thursday and quickly spread to about 2,000 acres — more than 3 square miles — destroying dozens of luxury homes and parts of a college campus in the foothills of Montecito, just southeast of Santa Barbara. About 5,400 of the community's 14,000 residents were evacuated and more could be forced to flee if the fire spreads, said Terri Nisich, a spokeswoman with the San Barbara County Executive Office.

At Westmont College, a Christian liberal arts college nestled amid wooded rolling hills, some 1,000 students students were caught off-guard by the rapidly moving flames…

About 500 firefighters were trying to stop the flames from marching farther west to dense neighborhoods in Santa Barbara. Fire officials planned an aggressive attack from the air at daybreak Friday with the help of nine water-dropping helicopters and 10 air tankers, Nisich said.

The injured included two firefighters who suffered smoke inhalation and two residents taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital with substantial burns, said hospital spokeswoman Janet O'Neil.

Montecito, California is home to celebrities like Rob Lowe, Michael Douglas, and Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey and Lowe’s publicists have issued statements saying that neither star suffered any property damage from the Montecito fire. Phew, we were all really worrying about Rob Lowe.