Very sad people losing their homes, the fire is out of control. My father got evacuated yesterday, the fire is creeping towards me, I am in a warning area.
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Hang in there buddy and keep us updated.Comment -
My prayers go out to you pal. Stay safe.Comment -
Be prepared and stay safe buddy.Comment -
Wow that's unfortunate...prayers out to the city. Hope it gets controlled.Comment -
Hang in there FlyingIllini...hope it doesn't get to your home.Comment -
get out the fire extingishers and hook the fire truck up to the nearest hydrant and spray awaY!!!
and if it gets close....LEAVE!!! check your bets from your phone
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I lived in Marina Del Rey right on the beach and back in 95 there were fires up and down the coast. It would be bright red all over and a huge smoke plume that filled the sky constantly. Get the hell out of there if you have to because they will rebuild.Comment -
20+ homes destroyed as of 9:30pm
I was there last year and the brush from those mountains were atleast 5ft tall plus all those tree'sComment -
SANTA BARBARA (AP) — Fierce winds sent a wildfire surging into the city Wednesday, igniting homes and forcing evacuations as columns of smoke rose from many neighborhoods in one of California's most scenic coastal enclaves.
TV news helicopters showed homes ablaze but the number could not be immediately determined because of thick smoke columns that streamed over the city and out over the Pacific Ocean.
"The fire is moving very very rapidly," said Santa Barbara County fire Capt. David Sadecki. "The fire is burning from the north to the south. It is wind-aided fire with 40 and 50 mph gusts."
More than 8,000 people were evacuated, according to a state of emergency proclaimed for Santa Barbara County by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Sadecki said there were unconfirmed reports of two firefighters being overrun by flames. An unknown number of firefighters were en route to Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles, charge nurse Helena San Marco told The Associated Press.
Mayor Marty Blum said other firefighters remained perilously close to the flames.
"We have got a couple firefighters in a real tentative situation up there surrounded by some flames, so we are hoping to get them out of there," Blum told KABC-TV.
Jeff Zimmerman, a retired fire captain, told KABC he saw two civilians with minor and second-degree burns.
One firefighter suffered a head injury, earlier in the day.
More than 800 firefighters were on the lines, and 20 more strike teams totaling about 1,300 firefighters were requested. "The firefighters are picking houses and seeing if they can make a stand," Sadecki said.
City Fire Department Capt. Mike dePonce told the AP by cell phone that he could see at least five homes burning from his vantage point shortly after 6 p.m.
The blaze bore down on the city at frightening speed, said Chad Jenson, a food server at Giovanni's Pizza.
"The sky is just deep orange and black, pretty much our whole hillside is going down," Jenson said. In a city that has experienced a number of wildfires, Jenson said this one was as close to the city center as any he had seen. Less than six months ago a fire destroyed more than 200 homes in Santa Barbara and neighboring Montecito.
The fire was reported at 196 acres at midday when winds were calm. There was no immediate new estimate of its size. After the fire broke out Tuesday, 1,200 homes were ordered evacuated. That number was expanded to 2,000 on Wednesday.
Authorities had warned earlier evacuees to not try to return to their homes because of a forecast for a return of strong winds Wednesday afternoon. The forecast proved accurate, along with predictions of very low humidity levels and high temperatures. Fire officials said the temperature reached 102 degrees in the late afternoon.
Santa Barbara rises rapidly from the coastline on the south to the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains to the north. It is subject to "Sundowners" — strong winds that blow downslope through passes and canyons of the mountain range and offshore. After producing little more than wisps of smoke most of the day, the fire became active on all sides, especially the southwest and east, and spot fires developed,
"We were projecting 50 mph down-canyon gusts, and that's exactly what we're getting now," said dePonce.
Jason Coggins, a waiter at the Kyoto Japanese Restaurant on one of Santa Barbara's main streets, said the speed at which the fire grew caught residents by surprise.
He went to a Japanese class at 1 p.m. and was unconcerned with smoldering brush on the surrounding hillsides.
"When I got out at 3:30, it was total chaos," he told the AP. "It flared up like that."
Coggins said several traffic lights went out, causing multiple fender benders and traffic mayhem throughout the city. Smoke plumes obscured the evening sun and the air was thick with ash.
"It's raining ash all the way down to the beach," Coggins said.
Steve Pivato of Goleta was working at Westmount College in Montecito, just east of Santa Barbara,when the flames intensified about 4:30 p.m. He said smoke was hanging over the city and traffic backed up on U.S. 101, the main highway through the area.
He told The Associated Press he had just gotten off the phone with a friend whose avocado orchard wasn't far from the fire.
"He said it's going to burn his trees. He can see houses burning. It's bad," Pivato said. "He's loading up the chickens and getting out of there."
Pivato said all the homes in the homes in the threatened area are at least $1 million and many are $2 million or more. "They're all very nice homes. There's no shacks in that area," he said.
As he drove home, Pivato said the smoke from the fire turned from gray to black. "That's the color when homes starts burning," he said.
The National Weather Service issued a "Red Flag" warning for fire danger, predicting strong winds through Wednesday night and again Thursday night.
Santa Barbara, with a population of 90,000, is 100 miles west of Los Angeles. The city dates to the Spanish colonial era and is a major tourist destination on the state's central coast.Comment -
The Governor Arnold Terminator is coming to town tomorrow. This is so sad I can see the flames.. multi million dollar homes are going up in smoke.. this is the 3rd big fire in the last 9 months here.. this is the worst one I have ever seen...המוסד
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I have now been evacuated, I am on the way to the Mesa(other side of Santa Barbara) 1 of my friends home has been burned. I have never been in a situation like this. It is 0% contained and it's a scary thing going on here right now.המוסד
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good luck illini ,keep us posted and stay safe .Comment -
this sucksComment -
GL and be safe....
If it seems to good to be true it usually is!!
I have a natural instinct to exploit market ineffieciencies!!Comment -
This is not good, this is way worse than about 2 hours ago, its raging down the hill, everyone I know has been evacuated. I have never seen anything like this in my life, state of emergency here.המוסד
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wow. you're getting attacked on one side by the Mexicans and a fire is burning down your city on the other side...
nice to be Cali right now, eh??Comment
