Forester Media’s
offices are located in Santa Barbara, CA, a city of some 80,000 inhabitants that
has made it into the national news for the fifth time in less that two years
with yet another serious fire.
Named the “Tea
Fire” because of its birth in an abandoned but oft-trespassed tea
house in the foothills of neighboring Montecito, as of today (November
18th) the blaze is close to full containment after burning some 2,000
acres,destroying 210 residences, and damaging at least nine others. Twenty-two
cases of smoke inhalation have been reported, along with three burn injuries,
but thankfully no deaths have been attributed to the fire.
During the late
fall, Southern California is subject to hot and dry desert winds known as Santa
Anas that turn vast amounts of brush in the coastal hills and canyons into
ticking time bombs awaiting mere sparks to turn vast areas into rampaging
wildfires.
This was the
situation Santa Barbara faced on the afternoon of November 13th, when
the fire began. By evening, flames had spead to nearly 200 acres and consumed as
many as 100 homes. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for 3,500 residents, with
10,000 standby warnings issued for adjacent areas. By the early hours of
November 14th the fire was reaching its zenith during which time I
started writing a running report:.
(2:30 AM) Once again
Santa Barbara is in flames...this time I think we may be in big trouble as the
weather report is calling for scorching temperatures and high winds over the
next couple or three days. I'm looking out at flames less than 5 miles away
leaping 300+ feet into the air.
(4:00 AM) It's still
dark but there are perhaps a dozen helicopters swooping in to drop water,
gliding down to the junior high school athletic field to load up, then launching
again to rejoin the queue...shades of Vietnam. At first light the fixed-wing
tankers will be taking up the attack, but if the winds pick up during the day,
who knows what will happen?
(9:00 AM): The DC-10
tanker is operating and is able to put down a convincing deluge…except when you
look at it in the larger perspective where it is no more than a drop in the
bucket compared to the fire. Fire crews from all over the state are arriving and
being dispatched to fire lines. The problem is that the winds make fire lines
iffy propositions at best, so we’re stuck in the wait-and-see mode where we’ve
been four times in the past year-and-a-half.
(10:00 AM) A radio
report says that 100 homes have been destroyed and 3500 more lie in mandatory
evacuation areas. My guess is that the toll will rise throughout the day and
maybe the weekend as well.
(11:00 AM) Just now
a pair of Ericson Skycranes (H-54s) came growling by carrying water tanks to
meet a new outbreak in Sycamore Canyon where sudden plumes of dark smoke signal
the additional losses of structures. The winds have picked up again, and this in
conjunction with the fire’s ability to make its own weather adds an increased
level of uncertainty to the situation
(Noon) Things have
begun really to kick up in the canyons and the fire officials admit that they
have zero percent containment. More plumes of dark smoke accentuate the burn
areas, but the prevailing winds seem to be keeping the fires out of the city
proper.
(1:00 PM): Just now
a pair of tanker aircraft (converted P2 Neptune and P3 Orion) made an in-trail
pass over the main portion of the Mission Canyon blaze, which sits about a mile
and a half above the mission itself. Endangered icons in the area include the
Museum of Natural history, the Botanical Gardens, and the El Encanto Hotel.
Smoke obscures much of the area known as the Riviera, overlooking the city and
Santa Barbara Channel and islands, as well as Sycamore and Barker Canyons and
the Cold Springs area. Westmont College in the Montecito foothills reports the
loss of two buildings.
(3:00 PM) Tankers
and helicopters shuttle to and from the burn areas in a constant assault, and
for the first time I have the sense that the tide of battle is turning in favor
of the fire crews. What a magnificent job they have been
doing.
(6:00 PM) While the
fire is far from contained, hot-spots continue to shoot flames high into the
nighttime sky, yet it appears that the worst is over.
By the next
morning many of the fire crews from other areas had been released, but their
trials were far from over. Ninty miles to south fires began to spring up
throughout the Los Angeles Basin, beginning with a blaze in the Sylmar area of
the San Fernando Valley, followed by more fires in Orange, Riverside, and San
Bernardino Counties.
Today (November
18th) most of the fires are under control, but the devastation they
have wrought is enormous. Yet, despite the toll in dislocation and suffering for
those who lost their homes and possessions, we have the extraordinary skill and
tenacity of hundreds of fire units who pulled out all the stops, to thank for
preventing far greater loss of property and life.
We all owe them a
great debt of gratitude.