More than 100 homes burned in California blaze
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NEW: Three people suffer burns, 10 smoke inhalation
Winds of up to 70 mph could fuel flames through Saturday
Fire threatens roughly 1,000 homes in Montecito, officials say
Fire covers about 2,500 acres in Santa Barbara County
SANTA BARBARA, California (CNN) -- A brush fire roared through the canyons of Santa Barbara County late Thursday, forcing residents in the town of Montecito to evacuate as flames engulfed multimillion-dollar homes and more modest ranch-style houses.
Fire pours from a home ignited by a wildfire in Montecito, California, on Thursday night.
1 of 2 More than 100 homes and 2,500 acres had burned, officials said.
"We believe 100 plus homes have been destroyed," Santa Barbara County spokeswoman Nicole Koon told The Associated Press. "It's our best guess at the moment because it's dark. We're not counting as much as trying to protect the homes."
Large homes continued to burn Friday morning.
High winds fanned the fire, which started about 6:30 p.m. Thursday northwest of Los Angeles.
The fire threatened roughly 1,000 homes, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
Winds calmed at daybreak Friday, slowing the spread of the fire, but were forecast to pick up to 50 mph to 70 mph through Saturday.
One firefighter suffered burns and was transferred to Sherman Oaks Burn Center. Two civilians who sustained burns were transported to the burn center in Irvine.
Ten were treated for smoke inhalation, according to an AP report.
More than 500 firefighters are fighting the blaze.
Video from CNN affiliate KCAL-TV of Los Angeles showed numerous structures gutted or burning. Watch as fire rips through California town »
"You can just hear the explosions ... of vehicles, homes," Michaelo Rosso told KCAL as he prepared to leave his home in the area. "It sounds like the Fourth of July out here."
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"It looked like lava coming down a volcano," resident Leslie Hollis Lopez told AP.
"We drove through tunnels of thick gray smoke," CNN's Paul Vercammen said. "Smoldering embers are floating everywhere. ... There's orange glows of similar burn areas all around us."
The flames roared onto the campus of Westmont College in Santa Barbara, forcing students and staff to take cover in the school gym. iReport.com: Are wildfires blazing near you? Let us know
Several buildings, including dormitories, the school's physics building and more than a dozen homes in Westmont's faculty housing area, have been lost or "significantly damaged" by the fire, the school said in a statement on its Web site.
College officials said they hope to evacuate to a Red Cross shelter as conditions permit.
Authorities ordered evacuations between Mountain Drive and Highway 192 and between Cold Springs and Sycamore Canyon Road in the Montecito area of Santa Barbara County.
Montecito, which has multimillion-dollar homes with ocean views, has long attracted celebrities, The Associated Press reported. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey owns a 42-acre estate there, and the landmark Montecito Inn was built in the 1920s by Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle, AP reported.
