'The fire is out of control'

At 8:30 a.m. California time Monday, former Long Grove resident Nina Terzian was outside her 8,000-square-foot Montecito, Calif., home with a hose in hand.

"I'm trying to wash off the black ashes from everything in my yard," she said in a call from her cell phone. "It's even inside the house -- all over the glass cook-top in the kitchen -- but so far, our Malibu house is still untouched."

Terzian, a Chicago businesswoman, and her husband, toy inventor Rouben Terzian, lived for many years in Long Grove but now split their time between homes in Montecito and Malibu.

Nina Terzian admitted Monday there was little or nothing anyone could do to change the course of nature as Santa Ana winds -- audible on the cell phone -- picked up speed, causing the fire to burn everything in its path. The path included both sides of the Pacific Coast Highway, which has been closed to all traffic.

When they could get through with limited phone service, she and her husband were trying to convince their daughter and son-in-law to pack up some valuables and photos, leave Malibu and drive up to Montecito.

"There is no question that the fire is out of control, and there is nothing our firefighters can do about it," Nina said Monday.