It's bad here, in Santa Barbara

Jeffrey · 11-14-2008, 10:40 AM

And, I am lucky to be able to be telling you this. A raging fire is consuming the populated hills behind town. I live on the upper east side, and my wife and I packed the van last night and evacuated, but returned shortly as we saw that the fire was not heading toward us. Ash and smoke makes it uncomfortable to go outdoors. I got no sleep last night as helicopters zoomed right over us at low altitude to refill their tanks nearby. I couldn't get any pictures, but it's all over the news. 100 luxury homes and mansions are gone, as are some parts of a college campus and a beautiful monastery. We are still on alert if the wind shifts. (cough, cough).

sdwindansea · 11-14-2008, 11:05 AM

Best of luck Jeffrey, we are definitely thinking about you. I've heard the winds are brutal right now which is making things that much worse. Stay safe.

Geoff

surfgeek33 · 11-14-2008, 12:08 PM

Glad to hear you and your wife are one of the "Lucky One's". Good luck and be safe.

Ray and Ruby

adventureduo · 11-14-2008, 12:48 PM

Yes, glad you guys are ok and fortunate enough to have your place. It's amazing how the fire jumps and skips homes. Terrible disaster last night.. hopefully it won't continue much longer now that they have day light and air support.

Jammyauto · 11-14-2008, 01:50 PM

We are evacuated as well. Hope to be back in our house tonight with any luck. My street is the border street for manditory evacuation. The fire was about 1/2 mile away from my house as of 10am this morning. The fire is in my mother-in-law's back yard. My brother in law went and hosed the house down this morning. The SMB makes a good escape pod.

Jeffrey · 11-14-2008, 02:19 PM

Seth, what street do you live on? I'll keep up with any reports about it.

DUKCSUN · 11-14-2008, 02:38 PM

Good Luck you guys. I have a friend that lost his home last night up there (the one that's on the cover of the LA Times today) and we are on pins and needles in West/North Malibu.

I'm supposed to get out this weekend but might end up sticking around unless things improve.

kinewave · 11-14-2008, 10:29 PM

Jeffery,
Stay well. We have a lot of friends up in SB and we're keeping everyone in our thoughts. Glad you're safe.

jim

Jammyauto · 11-15-2008, 02:48 PM

jeffrey, I live on montrose just off tunnel rd. We came home last night but I left the smb in my shop down in town. They won't say it yet but it seems to be fully contained. So far I know 4 families that have lost homes. That fire sure moved quick on Thursday night.

cellularSTEVE · 11-16-2008, 09:49 AM

I hope all of you are doing better today. Take care.

steve