My Scariest Fire Story

I think this likely was 2009 because I believe my father in law had already passed away. As we drove south on highway 101 we could see the flames and it made us nervous because we hadn't heard about the flames being so close to my wife's father's house in Santa Barbara. So, I went out in my wife's new Lexus SUV so it was only a few months old then to check how near the fire was to my father in laws house with our Santa Barbara House sitter who is a retired Fire Captain from the Navy.

We thought we would be fine but I realize now we didn't understand Santa Barbara Fire protocols and because of this we endangered ourselves unnecessarily.

So, as we went up into the area in the mountains next to Santa Barbara to check the direction the fires were moving we saw many houses (at least 10 on fire). However, we thought we were safe because there were lights on in the living rooms off all these houses and their drapes were all open. So, we thought everyone was still in their houses and the area had NOT been evacuated yet.

However, we were wrong. We found out later (about a day later) that in Santa Barbara what one does is to turn on the living room lights and open their drapes to show the fire and police departments they have evacuated so they won't bang on the doors telling everyone to get out so they don't die. This likely comes from many bad experiences over the last 100 years in Santa Barbara because fires (at least in the brush and weeds in the hills is a yearly thing)

So, the Fire Captain who is from Oxnard and not from Santa Barbara and I am from the San Francisco bay area for at least 20 years now didn't understand what was happening. Instead we just thought because the lights were on that everyone was still home and no one had evacuated yet.

Wrong!

So, we started to notice that more and more houses were on fire and we also noticed there weren't even any fire engines or police there at all. So, the Fire Captain and I started to get a little scared that something was wrong with this picture. So, finally I turned around and tried to drive down the only road I knew led out of the mountains there.

But, as we drove down this road once again literally every single house was on fire and gas mains were exploding next to the street and shooting flames 15 feet into the air. Finally, I realized we wouldn't survive driving down that road anymore so I squeeled the tires and spun the car around and headed out of there.

We drove to where a fire station was and were told they were evacuating the fire station. At this point we knew we might be in trouble because I didn't know a way out of there. I asked the fireman who was evacuating the fire station because it likely was going to burn down too and he said there still was a paved road out and told me where to go.

Thank God there was a safe way out of there. So, it helps to know safety procedures and evacuation procedures in an area before you go into it during a fire so you don't die.

My wife was mainly upset because the inside of her car smelled like smoke for several months but other than that there was no physical damage to us or to the car. However, we felt like we had really dodged a bullet.

Also, when I was growing up in Glendale many of my richer friends had view homes on the mountains (basically foothills) in that area. So, when there were brush fires in the hills some of their houses would burn down and they would be sad. Fires and Earthquakes are always what people have to worry about the most in San Diego and the Los Angeles Area. Fires are a little less of a problem from about Big Sur north because the coast is mostly more moist so fires tend to be not as big as in San Diego or Los Angeles because they both border deserts which keep both areas pretty dry.