I'm familiar with Montecito because a relative of mine owned a home there until recently. So, Toro Rd intersects East Valley rd and East Valley Rd intersects Sheffield so this is getting pretty close to Montecito proper now. Hopefully the fire engines and planes and helicopters can keep this fire out of this very exclusive area as much as possible.
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Living hour by hour as the Thomas fire approaches Montecito
Charles McCaleb hasn't slept much since the raging Thomas fire chased him out of his Ojai Valley home about a week ago.
In
the early morning hours, he refreshes fire and weather websites for the
latest on the blaze's behavior and spread. During the day, he
volunteers, doling out masks to evacuees from behind a table off Highway
192 in Montecito.
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His voice is gravelly from days of exposure to toxic air, his nerves rattled by the seemingly endless firefight.
"It's
not like 'someone pointing a gun at you' scared," said McCaleb, 70.
"It's more of a controlled fright where you know what's happening."
Anxiety
was high for residents of Santa Barbara County, where the Thomas fire,
driven by gusty winds and bone-dry air, rampaged over the weekend,
destroying more homes, forcing tens of thousands more people to flee and
threatening the coastal enclaves that are a defining feature of
California's landscape.
The
spread of the flames slowed Monday as winds calmed and the fire reached
areas that had burned about a decade ago, reducing the available fuel.
The blaze grew by only about 1,000 acres, compared with the more than
50,000 Sunday, when it chewed through steep slopes and canyons that
haven't burned for decades. By Monday evening, firefighters had the
massive wildfire 20% contained.
"It's
a good sign," Ventura County Fire Engineer Steve Swindle said of the
231,700-acre fire's slower growth. "It gives us some hope."
Firefighters
were focusing efforts on keeping flames from damaging hillside homes in
Montecito, Summerland and Carpinteria. The fire is burning above those
towns, along a ridgetop in the Santa Ynez mountains.
Authorities
said Monday night that the fire was "flanking," or moving slowly side
to side along the ridgeline. But forecasters fear so-called sundowner
winds could pour over the ridgetop from the interior valley and blow the
fire down the hill into coastal neighborhoods.
A
gray haze hung over Montecito, where stores and gas stations in the
evacuation zone north of Highway 192 were closed and only a scattering
of residents stayed behind. Fire crews went door-to-door looking for
holdouts and water sources, such as homes with pools or wells they could
draw from should the Thomas fire bear down on the city. Others watched
for flying embers that could ignite spot fires.
Roger
Raines, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection, and his platoon were assessing the vulnerability of
about 50 multimillion-dollar Montecito estates connected by a tangle of
narrow, winding tree-lined roads barely wide enough for the trucks
assigned to protect them. Residents who fled left their front gates wide
open for easy access.
Raines
sat in his truck at Park Lane and East Mountain Drive, just outside the
open field his team had designated as a safety zone to regroup should
things turn for the worst. Their success would depend on the wind, which
forecasters said could gust downhill at up to 25 mph after dark.
His
crew was new to the Thomas fire, but they had been fighting flames for a
week — first in Bel-Air, where the Skirball fire scorched more than 400
acres, then Murrieta, battling the smaller Liberty fire.
"This is our first shift here," he said. "But we've been running for a week."
Just two months ago, Raines was in Napa County fighting the devastating wine country fires that claimed more than 40 lives.
"It's December," Raines said. "This doesn't happen in December."
Carpinteria
resident Jay Molnar, 55, mouth and nose protected against the smoke,
views flames glowing in the hills above the city on Dec. 11, 2017. (Mel
Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Some
20 miles west, as the Thomas fire closed in on Carpinteria, dozens of
people crowded an evacuation center opened at UC Santa Barbara. Men,
women and children had been trickling in since 2:30 a.m. They slept in
cots sprinkled across the university gym floor. A father played pingpong
with his son nearby.
Meanwhile,
ash and silence blanketed the beach community of Summerland. The quaint
eateries, coffee shops and wine shops along Lillie Drive were closed or
empty. Residents walked their dogs and checked the daily fire map
posted on a board outside the fire station.
Up
along State Route 192, Laurent Pellerin wore a surgical mask as he
packed his red Audi station wagon with winter clothes and snow chains.
The
48-year-old home decor store manager was getting ready to drive his
family to Chicago for a new job when the fire closed in on his cottage
near Toro Canyon over the weekend. Now they are leaving, unsure if their
home will survive after they go.
"It is surreal," he said. "We are leaving the fires and rushing to get the snow chains for winter."
About
7,000 firefighters from 11 western states have poured into Ventura and
Santa Barbara counties to try to contain the Thomas fire. Firefighting
efforts have cost about $48 million.
In
the last week, helicopter crews alone have dumped 1.7 million gallons
of water on the blaze. That's enough water to fill roughly 70 backyard
pools.
While
Monday's slow growth left firefighters hopeful, a red flag warning,
indicating extreme fire danger, was extended in the region.
"Our vigilance in this is still equally as high," Ventura County Fire's Swindle said.
Serna
and Panzar reported from Montecito, Tchekmedyian from Los Angeles.
Times staff writer Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.
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