8,600 acres scorched in California wildfire

In Southern California late Friday. a wildfire scorched down dozens of homes and rendered thousands of citizens homeless.

In Southern California late Friday. a wildfire scorched down dozens of home and rendered thousands of citizens homeless. In the CNN report, More than 30,500 residents of Santa Barbara County had to evacuate as the wildfire destroyed at least 80 homes and 8,600 acres of the area. "We have a lot of resources on the line -- our folks are working their hearts out," Joe Waterman of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told reporters. More than 12,200 homes or businesses are in the mandatory evacuation area." Tom Franklin, Santa Barbara County Fire Chief claims that the fire has played out the "roller coaster effect" which is due to the changing weather patterns. "It starts off, looks kind of calm, thinking we're getting the upper hand, turns out we're not," Franklin said. "As unpredictable as the weather can be, that's about as unpredictable as the fire is going to be." The fire had torched mansions in the coastal community's foothills after starting on Tuesday in the Cathedral Park area. Officials said it was about 10 percent contained, and almost 2,500 people were working on battling the blaze. Fire officials had hoped that cooler temperatures and winds would help them as only about 10 percent had been contained by Friday evening. However on Thursday night, the winds that topped 50mph unexpectedly changed direction blowing the fire back towards the mansions and other homes in the community. "Santa Barbara City Fire Chief Andrew DiMizio praised firefighters, who battled a fire front nearly five miles long on Thursday. "They were dealt with a deck a cards that was pretty haphazard," DiMizio said." The cause of the fire has not been determined, and authorities have asked anyone with information to call in. The wildfire follows six months after the Tea Fire damaged more than 200 homes in Santa Barbara.