OT ginger area fire

Monticito is a beautiful area just outside of Santa Barbara with HUGE homes.

Debbi in SO CA

Taria wrote:

Just checked the directory. Ginger is quite a ways away from the fires.

Debbi in SO CA

Taria wrote:

I was watching the local news from Santa Barbara at 6PM last night. [I grew up in Goleta, which is just north of Santa Barbara, on the coast] They had a camera on their outside patio, filming a small fire. The TV station is on TV Hill, a high spot that can see the ocean or mountains well. All of the sudden, the fire blew up literally, right on camera.

My family has moved away from the area, but old schoolmates still live there, and some co-workers' families live there. The average price of the houses in the area where the fire is, is over $4 million dollars. Many film/TV stars, big business moguls. Uh-huh. Yep. Fire knows no boundaries. It is a Federal disaster area as of this afternoon.

By the crow flies, it is about 35 miles away from me. This is the second major fire in that area of Goleta/Santa Barbara this year.

Thank you all for your concern. Please hold everyone close in prayers.

G> Just checked the directory. Ginger is quite a ways away from the fires. >

We are right now in the midst of a major Santa Ana wind event, as is the fire area. At 9PM the temp here was 80, winds gusting over 45MPH.

I am hearing big helicopters overhead.

G> I thought that you were from that area but that is not familiar

Very beautiful area, we have some very close friends who live there, DH was there just two weeks ago, I hope they are ok. It may be a rich area on average, but he is a non tenured academic and they live in a housing area with strict rules on resale, so the price is not inflated like the rest of the area, they have a fairly typical 1700sqft 3 bed house.

Cheers Anne

Please pray, I just looked up the details and 14 out of 41 homes have burned down in the faculty housing my friends live in, I can't remember what number they live at, but it's the same street and may well include them.

Anne

As of 9:30PM, houses confirmed lost are 111, 13 injuries reported, 1 death [elderly man with health issues passed after being evacuated], and 1500 acres.

G> We are right now in the midst of a major Santa Ana wind event, as is

Looks like a lot of the buildings were part of Westmont College, including one of the dorms, about 40-50 students have lost there housing. One of the main residential streets that seems to have taken quite a hit is Westmont Rd, which is not a street full of big houses, just regular family homes. I'm really sad for those families, as they will find it very hard to get accomodation.

I checked the facebook account of our friends on that street, when they posted they were all safe, but they don't know full details of the area of the fire, but the house numbers reported in the news are not theirs but are very close, but odd rather than even numbers, I have a vague recollection of driving round and finding the numbering system rather confusing and I think I can see their house still standing in one of the pictures I've found.

I think this is the first time since the IRA bombed Manchester in 1996 I've had such a shock with someone we care about potentially being in trouble and I'm surprised how terrible it's made me feel, it's entirely concern for them, but I felt really sick whilst I was waiting for DH to pull up an email that had their complete address in and I could check it against the numbers I'd found in a news article. We had worries last year as some of the fires got close to other friends in LA, but they were also relieved very quickly, this time every further bit of news I found the more worried I became.

Dh just found this photo

we've done some very careful counting and DH having been there two weeks ago can remember the details of the house to confirm, they are the 5th house along the road from the bottom left, houses 4, 6 and 7 are down as are the ones diagonally across the road. It's an absolute miracle their house was saved as the houses are really close, though I do remember being able to walk completely around the house and there not being an sprawl of bushes. Praise God and do keep praying for everyone involved. Cheers Anne

I have never lost anything in a fire but I have a very dear friend who lost absolutely **everything** in a fire about 4 1/2 years ago. She is a single woman and lived about 5 miles from me at the time. She had no family here (they were all in Birmingham, AL) so I was the one she called. Her home and 4 others were totally destroyed -- burned to the ground -- on a Sunday afternoon in early April! She not only lost EVERYTHING she owned (except the clothes she wore) but she also lost her

3 kitties in the fire :*-{ . She came to stay with us for a few days until the insurance company could arrange for an apartment for her. Her two sisters and brother were here the next day, all arriving with personal things she would need immediately (underwear, purse, toiletries). It was unbelievably traumatic for her, the family and DH and myself. I was most upset about the loss of the "babies" and still cry if I let myself think about it. OK -- gotta stop thinking about all that. Anyway, my friend is still dealing with the loss and it's truly devastating. She does absolutely exquisite needlework and lost thousands of dollars of lovely, framed work. Those pieces were her legacy it she is still dealing with the loss to the point that she terms things "BF" or "AF" for Before Fire and After Fire. She eventually replaced most of her things, even the 3 babies and had her home rebuilt. About 2 years ago, she sold that place and moved to Birmingham so that was was close to her family -- a good thing for her. So if you know anyone who loses a home in a fire, be aware that it will likely take a long time to deal with the trauma. It's like nothing any of us who have never suffered a similar experience can even imagine. I am sending my most positive energy to the area and hope and pray that the weather settles down so that the fire can be more quickly contained. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Ditto, from me. Fire is so scary. Or to quote one of my favorite authors (Robin Hobb): "Fire fears no magic".

Hugs and hopes you don't have to evacuate, Sunny

This morning I woke early, prepared to take a dawn walk. I had heard the wind in the night but it seemed calmed down.

No dawn. Just smoke. There is a fire now that started last night at

10:30AM, at the intersections of the Interstate 5 and #14 and 210 Freeways, just next to the other big fire in that area earlier this year. There are 4 major freeways closed. There are over 6,000 people evacuated. Major power lines have been de-powered because they are in the path of the fire, causing rolling blackouts. The temperature is almost 90 degrees right now, and the whole Los Angeles basin is under a power alert, asking people to not use appliances right now. A community of 600 manufactured/mobile homes in Sylmar was completely burned up, and propane tanks have been exploded. The wind id blowing my direction, so air quality is poor at best.

Fire to the north, now fire to the south.

And now a fire further east in Corona, a "fresh" fire in the riverside area.

There is a reason they call the Santa ana winds "devil winds".

Don't know how much I will be on here today, in the event of power outs. Day for hand sewing.

Please hold them all in your prayers.

G> Ditto, from me. Fire is so scary. Or to quote one of my favorite

Prayers are on their way to all the families in that area. Seems So.CA has sure had its share of fires over the past year.

ME-Judy

My family has moved away from the area, but old schoolmates still live there, and some co-workers' families live there. The average price of the houses in the area where the fire is, is over $4 million dollars. Many film/TV stars, big business moguls. Uh-huh. Yep. Fire knows no boundaries. It is a Federal disaster area as of this afternoon.

By the crow flies, it is about 35 miles away from me. This is the second major fire in that area of Goleta/Santa Barbara this year.

Thank you all for your concern. Please hold everyone close in prayers.

G> Just checked the directory. Ginger is quite a ways away from the fires. >

Anne, where did you get the addresses of the houses that had burned? DH's cousin is in the evacuation area; I can't really tell from the maps if her house is in the fire area, but it looks like it might be.

Julia > G>> As of 9:30PM, houses confirmed lost are 111, 13 injuries reported, 1

We have friends just to the north east of Somis who have a ranch with

100+ horses. What on the earth do you do with so many animals during a fire?

I try to follow where the fires are but its so difficult when you only have Google earth and media reports and you aren't sure where all the road numbers and places are. So far they seem to be ok.

Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~uk

G> This morning I woke early, prepared to take a dawn walk. I had heard

I had to head down to my dad's in southern OC this morning. 10 minutes from the house found out the Corona fire had the freeway closed. We were able to skirt the area by going around but minutes after we got past Brea a fire started there. We weren't sure if we were gonna get home tonight but were able to. Lots of smoke and we saw big flames. I just got a message that my SIL in Yorba Linda has been evacuated and a nephew in Chino Hills might be in a bad spot. My brother just headed out of town this morning so SIL on her own. I have had a bil and an uncle both completely lose their homes to fire in the last 6 years. These are not new homes most over 20 years, some in town not rural. Any good thoughts and prayers for the thousands of folks displaced tonight sure are welcome. Taria

G> This morning I woke early, prepared to take a dawn walk. I had heard

They usually have places like fair grounds, race tracks and other spots that can be opened up to house large animals. There is a lot of helping each other out in those areas. Folks with horse trailers help each other and for the most part make the moves early before there is too little time. You would be surprised how everyone helps each other out. I hope your friends are safe. Taria

Sally Sw> We have friends just to the north east of Somis who have a ranch with

I didn't get anything like a full list, but I looked on the westmont.edu site then searched for the name of the complex I new my friends lived in, and found an article in a local paper specifically focusing on the losses at westmont.

Clearly losing your house and everything in a fire is devastating, but for it to be many people in a close community at that same time (and apparently the college is struggling financially already) must be even worse. There is also the phenomenon as survivers guilt, I can't imagine what it's going to be like for them moving back into a house with burnt shells all around you and they know their neighbours well, they aren't just people who happened to live next door.

Cheers Anne

No dawn. Just smoke. There is a fire now that started last night at

10:30AM, at the intersections of the Interstate 5 and #14 and 210 Freeways, just next to the other big fire in that area earlier this year. There are 4 major freeways closed. There are over 6,000 people evacuated. Major power lines have been de-powered because they are in the path of the fire, causing rolling blackouts. The temperature is almost 90 degrees right now, and the whole Los Angeles basin is under a power alert, asking people to not use appliances right now. A community of 600 manufactured/mobile homes in Sylmar was completely burned up, and propane tanks have been exploded. The wind id blowing my direction, so air quality is poor at best.

Fire to the north, now fire to the south.

And now a fire further east in Corona, a "fresh" fire in the riverside area.

There is a reason they call the Santa ana winds "devil winds".

Don't know how much I will be on here today, in the event of power outs. Day for hand sewing.

Please hold them all in your prayers.

G> Ditto, from me. Fire is so scary. Or to quote one of my favorite