Fires

Thursday night I was driving south Towards Santa Barbara with my family on business. As we began to approach Santa Barbara we were certain something was very wrong. At first it was the now familiar(for California) golden moving glow on the hills above Santa Barbara. I was worried it was near where we would be staying. Luckily the several mile W of flames blowing down the canyons at 70 mph we still a few miles from where we would be staying. Having grown up in Glendale and having Gone to Glendale High School in the 1960s many of my friends had lost their homes then in the fires in the hills around Glendale during those years. So I was used to fires nearby and knew the two basic rules. First rule, never be downwind in a high wind fire because smoke inhalation can make you pass out and take away your life quickly.
Second rule, never be downwind in a high wind fire because you never know when it will get you.

As I drove through to Santa Barbara on old 101(the coastal freeway)between Los Angeles and San Francisco, all the way north to Arcata and points north, I tried to think of all the things that would be useful to think of again.

When I reached the home I would be staying we had passed flames that I knew were at least 100 feet high. Later I found out that flames had reached 300 feet in height(as long in height as a football playing field. I knew there was a chance that this home too could burn that night or when the winds returned the next two nights. So, even though we arrived at 10 pm I went out to search for the edge of the fire with a retired Navy Fire Captain. We found the fire moving so fast that neither the fire engines or the police could keep up with it. The fire line stretched several miles and we saw at least 10 homes on fire in two locations, so that meant we saw at least 20 homes on fire. We knew then at least 50 homes were already burning because of this.

Then I made a mistake. I misjudged how fast the fires we moving when I was searching for a better vantage point to see how much danger the home we were staying in was. I turned around realizing it was too dangerous to be there but part of the road we came up on was now on fire. My retired Fire Captain friend said, "Turn around, Fred!" but we came on the little fires so quick it took me a second to realize we were in trouble. So when I saw a natural gas meter on the street shooting flames straight up into the air I finally turned around quickly. We then went to the nearest fire station and asked for an alternate route out of there. Luckily, there was one. They also were grateful for us telling them about how much farther the fire had gone than they were aware of, for it had moved so fast there were no fire engines or police anywhere in that area yet. Then we drove the direction they suggested and finally got out of that scary situation. I could see how easily it would have been for people less aware of fires than us to have been badly burnt or died in that kind of situation.

This was the Santa Barbara Tea fire. The Sylmar-Yorba Linda fire is much worse now because of the speed of the winds ongoing. I'm told there is another fire in Corona, California as well.

It seems like year around fires are becoming a regular nightmare for central and Southern California these days.