College hard hit in Montecito fire

Reports continue to pour in on the extent of the damage from the Tea fire in the Montecito area.

Hard hit was Westmont College, which posted this on its website Friday morning:

“Westmont has lost eight structures, four buildings in Clark halls (F,G,M,S), the physics building, the old math building and the two Quonset huts. The [latter] three structures were scheduled for demolition soon.

“Fourteen faculty homes in Las Barrancas have burned; there is damage to trees and wooded areas on campus, but much of the formal gardens remains intact.”

Westmont College started a program of developing homes for faculty near campus in 1995. The mostly ranch-style one- and two-story models -- from 1,700 to 1,850 square feet -- could be purchased at reduced prices as a perk of employment.

-- Lauren Beale