* Fire 30 percent contained as weather improves

* More than half of 30,500 evacuees allowed to return home (Updates with evacuees allowed to return, adds quotes)

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., May 9 (Reuters) - Some 15,000 people, more than half of those evacuated from an area near Santa Barbara, California, were allowed back home on Saturday as firefighters made progress against a wildfire that has raged for five days.

Of the 30,500 people originally forced to leave, about 14,735 remained under mandatory evacuation as of Saturday afternoon, said Harry Hagen, a spokesman for Santa Barbara County's emergency operations center.

The fire has destroyed 80 homes and blackened more than 8,600 acres (3,480 hectares) in the foothills above the picturesque seaside city.

Hagen said about 30 percent of the fire had been contained, up from only 10 percent on Friday, with the help of better weather conditions.

Abe Peck, professor emeritus for Northwestern University, moved to Santa Barbara last year from Evanston, Illinois, and said this was his third fire and second evacuation since his move.

"I was playing poker on Thursday night and suddenly the fire jumped the highway. Little by little my poker buddies started getting calls to say it was time to go," Peck recalled.

"We're well drilled by now. We took file cabinets, 2009 tax documents, laptops, a small suitcase, house stuff, photos and our two dogs and went to friend's house southeast of here," said Peck, who came home on Saturday to find everything intact.