Santa Barbara Jesusita Fire – 3
Local TV station, KEYT, is updating this link continuously. The latest update is from 9PM PDT:
•8,600 acres burned
•10% contained
•Damage assessment in progress – initial estimate of 80 homes have been damaged or destroyed
•Approximately 12,204 properties evacuated (mandatory evacuation orders); affects approx. 30,500 people
•More than 11,524 properties under evacuation warning; approx. 29,000 people affected
•Residences threatened – 3,500; commercial properties threatened – 100
•3,455 personnel on scene: 428 engines, 78 crews
•14 air tankers and 15 helicopters
•11 firefighter injuries to date
•Cause under investigation: Tip line – 805-686-5074
•Air quality warning remains in effect
•Estimated costs to date $3.2 million
The LA Times is changing their story link every day, but the map link is updated constantly.
Update: via Jill, the Enplan Wildfire Viewer. Just click on the Jesusita link on the sidebar to see the locations of the fire’s hotspots.
11 comments
it’s pure hell…really. The red moon last night was really creepy and it is literally a snow blizzard of ashes falling. UCSB evac center is my new home…along with so many others.
30,000+ residents evacuated. 2 evac centers with capabilities of 200 + 900. You do the math. Lots of people sleeping in their cars in the COSTCO parking lot. TV and free wi-fi at the evac centers provided by the newly opening up BestBuy. Wool blankets provided by the Mormons. Bathroom stuff provided by Calvary Baptists.
The fire is changing every minute…the winds are coming willynilly…Surreal. Simply surreal.
cookie jill´s last blog post..Smoke is billowing everywhere
If there is enough smoke to reduce the heating of the land, that should cut down on the winds, but if the fires are hot enough, the winds will increase. Big fires generate their own weather.
At least you aren’t isolated from the outside world and can get some news about what’s going on with the fire.
Get some sleep as soon as the adrenalin wears off.
DC-10 is here flying around the smoldering mountains. The winds have picked up heading toward the West (NOT good) but not as hot as it has been.
http://wv.enplan.com/
cookie jill´s last blog post..Smoke is billowing everywhere
Nice use of technology. It does seem to have jumped the road at one point, and is definitely starting to spot at multiple locations.
When I posted the KEYT update for 11AM I noticed that they had brought in the fixed wing aircraft, including the DC-10.
…the thoughts of my family are truly with you, jill. I’ve only ever had to evacuate from my home once because of a wildfire, and it was a truly frightening experience…
I suspect that one of the measures of the maddening variability of the controlling winds over the last few days is the fact that – despite the tremendous danger that this fire presents to both people and property – it has maintained a surprisingly compact size of 3,500 acres (as of the last report) even after the better part of three days of fire activity. This is the quintessential urban interface fire: a relatively small incident (compared to recent SoCal fires) that poses an outsized threat to people and their property because of fuel loadings and local weather conditions…
I pray that the weather forecasts hold true and the National Weather Service Wind Advisory actually does expire at 10 am tomorrow, giving the fire-fighters time and space to beat this monster down so folks can go home….
Stay safe Jill and everyone! 🙁
My thoughts are with you, for all the good they did here. I wish I could help.
Best wishes.
Our old friend, Coastal Eddy…arch enemy of fire, has put in an appearence. The sundowners weren’t as wicked as before…I think the weather finally has had enough of this fire stuff…
cookie jill´s last blog post..sweet little jesus
MSNBC has a nice little slide show…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30610234/displaymode/1247/
cookie jill´s last blog post..sweet little jesus
I received the e-mail, and hope that things really have calmed down. Perhaps you minor quake stirred things up enough to cause some upwelling in the ditch off shore.
The fog definitely kept things cooler than anticipated and helped the troops contain the beast for now.
I noticed a fire up by Bakersfield on the viewer, I hope that gets put down quickly.
It really was a beast. The wind was everywhichway but where you wanted it to go…picking up hot embers along the way and distributing them willynilly
cookie jill´s last blog post..Music to go home to
The satellite view that you located really showed it, because it picks up the hot spots, not the general fire.