When Fire Last in the Hill-sides Bloom'd

This is more for those out of the Santa Barbara region, but if you want to see why the Jesusita Fire put the fear of god into us here, go check out this progression fire map the county put up. Note, especially, the huge jump from May 7, 4 pm to May 8, 7 am. That's when all hell broke loose and it was easy to imagine much of the town would just burn down.

And if you want to know where Amy, the pups, and I fit on the map, we live above the W in the words Earl Warren Showgrounds. And, yes, the tops of the W are pokey....

Jesusita H. Christ

Amazing LA Times photo (credit Mark Boster) showing a helicopter in a fire fight last night. You can see the whole gallery here.

So, we live right on the edge of the evacuation warning zone, but when things heated up last evening, and boy did they heat up, it was easy to imagine the winds whipping the conflagration through San Roque Canyon and to our house. So we packed up both cars, got the dogs in, and headed towards Goleta, safely away. Had dinner, waited. It was an odd time, safe with friends, in a place with lots of TVs, some on the fire coverage (we got to watch that one home up Tunnel Road burn for what seemed like hours), some on baseball, some on basketball. It's weird how the world just goes on while this giant destructive force makes its random path. The Independent says over 30 homes, but lots saved, too.

Now things are quiet, but we know enough that that's not enough. The winds will pick up again tihs afternoon. Here's hoping it's not too bad.

And Again, Dammit

Santa Barbara is on fire, again, and the Sundowners are coming, again. So here's to those terrific firefighters--again. This one, called the Jesusita Fire, is actually the closest one of the last 4 has been to our house. If you know SB, it's on the ocean side of the mountains, about halfway down in the canyon up above the Botanic Gardens.

The view out our kitchen window from San Roque Gardens, just south of State Street, at about 4 pm:

Two shots from the parking lot at Loreto Plaza. You can spot tiny little helicopters if you look closely. It's amazing we ever get one of these out.




And here's a view from along Municipal Golf Course, which gives you a pretty good sense of the scale of things.

Here's hoping I get to keep reporting during the night and that: a) the power doesn't fail, b) we don't have to evacuate.

Tea Fire

This iPhone photo from the street in front of my house isn't 1/1,000,000 as scary as it seems live--there's a huge, growing fire off in Montecito, maybe 5 miles (I hope) away from our house. The air is smoky and warm.

Here's hoping we've got good news soon, but it doesn't look good right now. Friends of ours have had to evacuate. If you want to see more, check out KEYT, Edhat, and the Indy.

UPDATE (11-14 11 am): Incredible Flickr slide show here.

Photographers Snip Snap

Here's the view from the second floor cut across on Phelps Hall where I work at UCSB. Not too pleasant. Last August the Santa Barbara back country burned for a month (yes, an entire month), and while it made things mightily apocalyptic, those of us who live in SB luckily were never threatened. This Gap Fire, however, is already on the coast side of the mountains.

Here's hoping the winds stay down and the firefighters can do their mighty work.

Where There's Smoke There's an Insane Conspiracy

Some photos from a weekend of smoke and ash in Santa Barbara, as much of the wild area behind the Santa Ynez Mountains burns to a crisp. The last shot does get me thinking--perhaps Wendy had some people set it as a way to finish off the paper for good? Of course they didn't set it in the right place, because anything she tries to do gets horribly botched, but still....

You've Got to Have Art

If you live in Santa Barbara, you should head over to Indigo, 1323 State Steet, Friday from 5:30 - 9:30 pm. They will be hosting a benefit for Caruso Woods Fine Art/The Frameworks, which as you probably know suffered a devastating fire a few weeks back (they lost both the business and their cat).

What's more, there will be a silent auction featuring donated work from many of the area's top artists (many of whom have shown at the Frameworks over the years), including Tony Askew, Marcia Burtt, Nell Campbell, May Heebner and more.

Great local art, good cause, silent auction (I'm a bit addicted to them)--if it's good for INOTBB, it's good for you.