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The fire started around 6 p.m. Thursday and quickly spread to about 800 acres (325 hectares) - destroying dozens of homes in less than five hours in the foothills of Montecito, just southeast 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 said as she gathered belongings from her house. Montecito fire spokeswoman Geri Ventura said about a quarter of the community of 10,000 people was evacuated and more could be moved out if the fire spreads.
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