SANTA BARBARA, California: Firefighters struggled early on Friday to get ahead of a raging wildfire that was moving dangerously close to heavily populated areas in this idyllic coastal city.

Neighborhoods of multimillion dollar mansions stood like ghost towns, bathed in the eerie orange glow cast by the nearby blaze.

The fire's increasing strength prompted officials to order 6,000 more people to evacuate late on Thursday, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said. That pushed the total number of evacuated residents to at least 18,000.