Jesusita Fire Update: 10:30pm
Been a busy afternoon. My brother’s house and neighborhood was put on mandatory evacuation around 4:30 this afternoon, so we were kept busy getting everything loaded into trucks and vans to move to a safer place. There is a small reservoir over the hill from his house where the fire fighting helicopters have been picking up water all afternoon, often circling low over his house. Still at 10:30 at night, 5-6 helicopters are still flying around in the sky. After it got dark I went to a view point a couple miles west and the wind was blasting and I could see huge flare ups in the fire every few minutes. Luckily the winds aren’t as bad as they could be though. Going to be a long night for a lot of people.
first photo: view from the Santa Barbara Courthouse around 4:30 this afternoon.
Those are terrific photos…my daughter works at Westmont College and we are praying it doesn’t get there as the students who suffered so much in the Nov. 2008 fire are still having a difficult time and the fourteen staff that lost their homes. I pray this one will be put out before anyone or any homes are destroyed.
Thanks Elaine. Unfortunately it looks like it’s made a turn for the worse. So sad…
Hi Cody,
Stay safe mate – here in Victoria as you may well know, it’s been a completely devatating fire season just gone… I like the last image the best !
Ya, I don’t think it’s as bad as what you guys got this year (not yet at least). But this fire has now connected the last 2 wildfires that have occurred in the last year: Gap fire in July ’08 and Tea fire in Nov ’08 (200 houses burned), So the frontal range now looks like some 10+ mile burn zone.