We got out of town yesterday to Buellton and Los Alamos for the fresh air.
But when we got to Los Alamos they’d just had a fire break out in Drum
Canyon. We wound up watching the air assault for 30 minutes while walking
around town. It was impressive with 4 or 5 helicopters and 2 fixed wing
planes. Seemed like they were just mopping up there as we drove home.
But we got to Goleta and the thick brown smoke and flames were visible
along the ridges by Montecito Peak. The wind must have been hellacious
during the day because a window and a door had blown open at our house. The
winds were still so strong that there was no air support.
The wind died down as forecast around 10:00pm and this morning we awoke to
the sound of non-stop helicopters filling up with water at Laura Canyon and
dropping that on the fire to the east. We don’t see any flames now and not
that much smoke either. So we’re hopeful that they are containing it on the
western flank.
We’re in a voluntary evacuation area and plan to stay.
An unexpected benefit of the wind yesterday: the thick layer of ash that
covered everything mostly blew away. Hopefully out to sea. We still have
the thin layer of soot everywhere outside though.
-Colin
On Sun, Dec 17, 2017 at 12:21 PM Bill Rizzi <rizzi@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Z&T: sheltering at RT. Z spent last PM at the state beach just past
Fairview. Highly recommended for fresh air - and free for evacuees. We
spent the previous week in Pasadena w/friend.
Dr. Hegarty: sheltering on campus
How about the rest of you?
Cheers,
Z
