FALLBROOK -- The Rice Fire in Fallbrook appears to be destroying homes in an unpredictable pattern, John Buchanan, the public information officer for North County Fire Protection District, said this morning.

Buchanan said the fire is acting like a tornado, taking out homes outside of its path of destruction, probably from hot embers.

He said that because all available firefighters are fighting the fire or trying to save homes and because the situation is still dangerous, it could be days before a list of addresses of destroyed homes is available.

By late this morning, fire officials said the blaze had destroyed 250 homes and damaged 30 others in Fallbrook and the eastern portion of Pala Mesa Village.

Firefighters were battling a 4-mile long front of the fire in Fallbrook, where 40,000 people have fled under a mandatory evacuation, said Buchanan.

The fire is zero percent contained and is stretching from north of Mission Road almost to Highway 76 and Gird Road.

"That's where we're trying to make a stand," Buchanan said at 9:15 a.m. today.

The fire is estimated to have burned 4,000 acres and injured two civilians and one firefighter.

An estimated time of containment is not known.

"We're still dealing with very erratic winds and extreme fire behaviors," Buchanan said. "We're basically at the whim of Mother Nature."

Updates

• Amid the charred landscape in the Red Mountain area northeast of downtown Fallbrook late Tuesday afternoon, there were several glimmers of hope for homeowners.

Most, if not all, of the homes in the "Megan's Bluff" neighborhood were spared, as were most of those on the 200 block of Yucca Road, even though it appeared the fire had moved straight through those areas before sunrise on Tuesday morning.

Authorities said earlier in the day that firefighters made "a lot of really good saves" in the Red Mountain area overnight and that by the afternoon many residents were returning to the area to assess the damage.

• As of 12:20 p.m., the northern edge of the Rice Fire was moving down the north side of Red Mountain toward Willow Glen Road and De Luz.

• As of 12:15 p.m., California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Dave Shew said fire crews in Fallbrook were bracing for a tough fight.

"I talked to some of the operations folks out on the line, and the winds are picking up on the ridgetops," Shew said. "The winds are picking up down here, on the ground at base camp, also. The winds that they predicted are coming. We're just going to hope that we can hold those lines."

Shew said there would be a fire personnel briefing at 4 p.m., and a full information update by 7 p.m. with more accurate figures on the fire's acreage and perimeter.