After-Nap Jesusita Fire Update: Friday Afternoon

I was able to sleep a couple hours. Yay!

I realized I didn't mention Mike in my previous posts. He worked his usual patrol last night. It was quiet on the crime-front. There are a couple hundred police officers from around Southern California helping man blockades. I baked several dozen chocolate-chip cookies yesterday for him to take in to the station (boy was the kitchen HOT! The chocolate chips started to melt before I could add them to the dough!). He said they were devoured immediately.

Today we transferred the belongings that we will take from the car trunk into the truck, as it has a bit more room for "stuff" and for animals. We're not really taking a lot. I packed mostly photos and photo albums. We also went and got particulate masks. We took the dogs with us in case we were ordered to evacuate while gone! The dogs did not get masks. They could use 'em though. Pee-yew! Bad breath!

We are waiting and watching on this calm day. The skies above are clear. The smoke isn't near us anymore. Of course, they expect today to be like yesterday. The sundowner winds are unpredictable, and this fire is unpredictable. As one news report remarked, last night the winds on the Eastern flank were wild, but the fire didn't act up. Out here on the Western front, the winds were relatively calm but the fire went wild.

The DC-10 aircraft will be back to drop its huge loads. There are more people and equipment here to fight. It is amazing what they are able to do given the ferocity of this fire.

Reading the news reports is a little hard to absorb sometimes. The extent of the evacuation areas is huge! Here is a good map. Zoom out. That view of the map makes it look like nothing is happening.

Here are stats as reported by keyt.com
3,500 ACRES BURNED
10% CONTAINED
3,500 AND 100 COMMERCIAL STRUCTURES THREATENED
75 RESIDENCES DESTROYED
246 ENGINES
12 FIXED WING PLANES (INCLUNDING DC-10) ,15 HELICOPTERS, AND 2500 PERSONNEL
MORE THAN 20,000 UNDER MANDATORY EVACUATION
MORE THAN 16,000 UNDER EVACUATION WARNING
11 firefighter injuries (reported by KTYD 99.9 radio)
COST: $2.6 MILLION

The cause is still under investigation.

If you are a glutton for punishment, KTYD 99.9 radio streams their broadcast on-line. You can hear what I hear! Today it is comforting to hear tunes and commercials! KEYT is the local TV news station. They have some videos of news reports. You all have probably seen more video than I have. I don't have any TV channels. I'm sure the national media is carrying the news, right?

And, like I've said, the Santa Barbara Independent is the best on-line news source. All the sources have numerous links to other sites, photos, government sites, etc.

Waiting for the winds. I suspect we'll head north whether ordered to or not. It will be less stressful and more sleep-ful up there! Plus, we would be able to take a shower! We're supposed to conserve water, obviously. Will keep you posted.

EDITED TO ADD: Here is a description of the Sundowner Winds that are such a plague for our area, especially during firestorms. This article was from the last fire, back in November.