Posted on 11/13/2008 7:52:38 PM PST by Porterville
(Santa Barbara/ Montecito) UPDATED: All of Mountain Drive Ordered to Evacuate
Sycamore Canyon Fire Estimated at 20 Acres
Though still no official word yet from fire officials, KEYT is now reporting that all of Mountain Drive should evacuate, as of 6:50 p.m.
Chris Meagher reports that he spoke with Gayle Beebe, the president of Westmont. Some structures have caught fire, including the campus chapel. The students on the Westmont campus who have not evacuated yet are seeking refuge in the campus gym, which is made of concrete and is fireproof. The gym contains supplies for up to 1,200 people. According to Beebe, the fire started not war from the Westmont tea garden.
Because the fire may knock out power to neighborhoods around Santa Barbara, residents may want to sign up for the Indy Alert system, which will send text messages with all fire updated to cell phones. Sign up for Indy Alert here.
More to come as it becomes available. Independent.com will update with further evacuations.
They said this morning that Lowe’s house was in the clear. Guess that changed. :(
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/fireplots/cgb2008319_1300.jpg
Not much detail, but for those who don’t know the topography, it shows where the fire(s) are right now in California.
The wind across the Mohave has picked up over the last hour. It’s 15-25 sustained out of the northeast.
Rob Lowe was on Oprah’s show at 4:08 PM Eastern time.....live.
He wasn’t there in person at the Chicago studio; he was on the telephone from Montecito. He didn’t say anything about fleeing his house; he did say that he saw 14 homes burn down last night.
I lived in Santa Barbara for 16 years and was there during the 1977 Sycamore Canyon fire. A twenty-something guy was flying a kite late one afternoon in July, 1977 in the foothills. The kite got caught in a power line, the lines arched, sparks fell into the dry brush, and the resulting fire destroyed more than 235 homes on the Riviera.....the foothills near the Old Mission. The Santa Ana winds were blowing that day (and night).
The rented Santa Barbara house that I was living in at the time was for sale. A couple in their 70’s came to see the house one day. They had lost their home in the 1977 fire, which happened just a month or two earlier. The woman held out her hand and showed me her diamond wedding ring....she told me that’s the only item she was able to grab before she fled her doomed home. This lady told me that her son had died many years earlier when he was in his early 20’s....what upset her the most was the destruction of all the photographs of her late son in the fire. Very sad.
I live on the East Coast now, but I wouldn’t mind living in Santa Barbara again.....Santa Barbara and Montecito are among the most beautiful areas in all of America. I Just wish the real estate prices weren’t in the upper stratosphere.
Oh I’d love to live there. There’s zero chance of being able to afford it in this lifetime, but the place is so gorgeous. And the weather. Though, not today. My sister-in-law lives near Goleta and says it’s 90F, smoky and ashy, and the worst part is being shut-in with everything closed. No air conditioning, of course.
My husband and I went to The Bowl last summer. It’s at Milpas and Anapamu. The restaurant where we ate is on Milpas, the south-west boundary of the current warning. The whole area is developed.
as of 1:15 —
EVACUATION WARNINGS:
In addition to the mandatory evacuation order areas, evacuation warnings have been issued as followed in the following areas:
•The area east of Hot Springs Road and West of San Ysidro Road and North of East Valley Road
•The area east of Ontare Road and West of Tunnel Road and North of Foothill Road
•The area bounded on the North by Alameda Padre Serra, on the East by Montecito Street to Milpas, Milpas to Anapamu, Anapamu to Laguna, Laguna to Los Olivos, and Los Olivos to Alameda Padre Serra.
Good God.....my parents used to have a nice place off Ontare Road (years and years ago).
Is this fire completely out of control? I was hoping for a partial containment during the daylight hours, but from what I’m reading here, it sounds bad.
Are the winds expected to pick up after sundown?
The sundowner winds are supposed to pick up this evening. They’re calling for northeast winds 15-25 later. I don’t know what that means for the direction of the fire..
•2,000 – 2,500 acres burned
•Approximately 100 homes damaged or destroyed
•5,446 homes evacuated
•More than 500 firefighters
•10 injuries from smoke inhalation
•3 burn injuries
MONTECITO FIRE DEPARTMENT IS URGING RESIDENTS OF SANTA BARBARA TO LIMIT THEIR WATER USAGE DUE TO THE FIRE FIGHTING EFFORTS NEED OF WATER RESOURCES.
from KEYT
Okay, and I'm sorry the tragedy is so near to you and touching people near you. What does that have to do with the cause of the fire? I went through Hurricane Katrina back in 2005 (in Boloxi, not New Orleans, lost my business) and I don't jump on people that talk about it. I hope everyone's all right there.
Update of Coyote Road and East Mountain Road from about 1:30 p.m.
http://www.independent.com/news/2008/nov/14/houses-gone-along-coyote-road-mountain-drive/
not good news, I’m afraid
My relative just tried to return to their home off of Barker Pass and was not allowed to go through. Police said the fire was moving in that direction again.
For the last time. You are speculating without one shred of evidence.
The fire started Thursday night near the ruins of Mar Y Cel, a historic estate above Mountain Drive in Montecito that includes the “Tea Gardens.”
-LA Times
I just found a similar discussion:
“Mar Y Cel (Sea & Sky) is a 350 acre estate in the Santa Ynez Mountain foothills above Montecito. The property includes the well known “Tea Gardens” built by Mr. & Mrs. Henry Bothin in the early 1900s. One of Montecito’s most intriguing properties, the site contains the remains of an intricate array of stone aqueducts and water works, Romanesque arches, and Greek-like statues. In September 2000, the environmental investment group Cima del Mundo LLC offered to donate a conservation easement on the northern 150 acres of the estate, eliminating the possibility of residential development and ensuring protection of the scenic beauty and wildlife habitat on this part of the estate. A popular hiking trail, the West Fork of Cold Springs Trail, has run through this area for many years, but it was not on a legally-dedicated easement. Cima del Mundo agreed to grant a one-half mile trail easement to the Land Trust, so that the right to use this trail is now guaranteed to the public.”
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/doc/2008/11/14/whats-happened-vs-whats-happening/#comment-103843
if this started on the Mar Y Cel land....Land Trust of Santa Barbara, it would be similiar to the (big) Malibu blaze that started within the Santa Monica Mtns Conservancy lands. (And of course, the liability comes with the land ownership)
Mar Y Cel Flickr stream -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8672569@N06/tags/marycel/
How did liability from the Santa Monica conservancy play out, do you know?
Twitter is great for these sorts of real-time happenings...
Glendale firefighter Eric Carlsen, left, with help from Steve Chiachi, pours water on the remains of the physics building on the Westmont College.
(Note: These FFs were involved in the Great So Cal Shakeout Drill yesterday, then responded to Santa Barbara at 7pm last night....probably havent slept yet)
Patio furniture angles down a steep cliff on the deck area of a home that burned during the Tea fire.
A California Department of Forestry air tanker flies over dozens of smoldering homes in the Montecito area.
Scores of homes sit smoldering the morning after flames raced through the hills of Montecito near Santa Barbara.
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