BIG SUR , California ( CNN ) -- Thousands of people living in Paradise are fleeing their small northern California town Wednesday as wildfires charge into the area , officials said . A fire captain looks at the fire burning in southern Santa Barbara , California , on Tuesday . More than half the town 's 26,000 residents have been evacuated as firefighters struggled to battle growing wildfires in the area , authorities said . Residents of the nearby town of Concow had already been told to leave their homes . As of 10 a.m. about 14,000 people had been evacuated from Paradise , said Chuck Rough , director of the emergency operations center in the town . `` We do n't have much containment , '' said Rough , who said thick smoke in the area had made it impossible to fight the fire by air Tuesday . `` Today we are holding our breath literally and figuratively . '' The blaze -- one of several in Butte County -- has already torched 40 homes . It 's just one of the 1,780 wildfires that have scorched more than 614,000 acres in the state in the last few weeks . Most of the fires have been caused by lightning strikes . There were still 323 active fires Wednesday that were being battled by about 20,000 federal , state and local firefighters , authorities said . The fires near Paradise , which is about 90 miles north of Sacramento , California , threatened thousands of homes , according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection , known as Cal Fire . Residents streamed to shelters in the area , some not knowing if their homes had been destroyed , said Jeannine Olson , a volunteer nurse at Neighborhood Church in the nearby city of Chico . Olson said the church shelter was filled to capacity with about 150 people , and 20 more were living in their cars in the church parking lot . `` People are a little scared and are wondering what is going on , '' she said . `` But people here are trying to handle this the best they can . '' Wind gusts of more than 40 mph pushed the fire dangerously close to many residential communities in the area , said Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant . Watch TV crew driven into fire » . `` We were lucky that the winds did not pick up last night as it was predicted , '' he said . `` But there are still some immediate threats . '' Watch what 's left of burned home in Big Sur » . Conditions seemed to be getting a little bit better in the fight against a wildfire near the central California coastal community of Big Sur . iReport.com : Share your photos , videos of the fires . The mandatory evacuations in that area had been downgraded to an advisory Tuesday , according to local and federal fire officials . But the Basin Complex Fire was only 27 percent contained Wednesday , according to federal fire authorities . It has torched more than 86,700 acres , and containment is not expected until the end of the month . Watch why fires could be related to global warming » . The nearby Indians Fire , in the Ventana Wilderness , was 97 percent contained after burning more than 81,000 acres , the U.S. Forest Service said . Further south , in coastal Santa Barbara County , the Gap Fire , which has burned 9,710 acres , was 55 percent contained , the Forest Service said .
NEW : Half of Paradise 's 26,000 residents have been forced to evacuate . NEW : The blaze has torched 40 homes in the area , officials say . Wind gusts , high temperatures make task harder for firefighters . More than 614,000 acres have burned in California in past few weeks .