There is a new evacuation order for West Camino Cielo west of the Highway 154 (near the start of the fire), and the evacuation "warning" area has expanded west (away from us) to Winchester Canyon. The fire has burned 2600 acres. The Governator has declared a state of emergency, and apparently our fire will take priority for the already-stretched firefighting resources in the state.
The sky is covered with thick smoke, and big honkin' ashes are falling on us. This morning when I went to my car to go to work, I noticed this ash on the door/window junction.
This piece of leaf ash is about 1" across.
Here are some pictures that I took last night at about 9:30pm. These were taken from this spot looking northwest.
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I know they aren't the best pictures of the fire, but you can imagine how unnerving it is to see the flames just a few miles away.
They've canceled the fireworks in Goleta, but as far as I know the fireworks down at West Beach in Santa Barbara are still on.
There is a possibility of another power outage. The City of Goleta put out a reverse-911 call this morning just to inform residents of the updates. I was glad to see it works. I'm also glad I saved an old-fashioned land-line phone that is not electric, so that we may still have phone service in a power outage!
Here is a link to a map, courtesy of the Independent.
I'll keep you posted. So far, so good. Luckily, winds are staying calm, and that is the best news.
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UPDATE 6:40
The lights have been flickering off and on for the last few minutes. I have a feeling we're in for another dark night.
3 comments:
I hope you get some rain really soon or that the humidity goes up or that they can put out the fire. It looks way too close.
Stay safe. I'm thinking of you.
I'm on pins and needles. Fires are so frightening. I hope your next update says they're getting it under control.
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