[concentric circles]

Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times
The sun peers through the smoke from the Gap fire, seen from Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara. In adjacent Goleta, residents of more than 1,600 homes had been ordered to evacuate by Thursday night. In some cases, the fire was just a mile from residences.

[GOP Poet]

It was a quarter of a mile from our house. Very, very scary stuff. It was one of the scariest nights of my life as I watched this thing jump mile after mile down the hill quickly toward our home within a few hours. We are evacuated, but our home tonight is safe thanks to the amazing firefighters and the wind cooperating in the following days.