The Tea Fire, also known as the Montecito Tea Fire, was a wildfire that began on November 13, 2008, destroying 210 homes in the cities of Montecito and Santa ...
Fatalities: Potentially 1
Date(s): November 13, 2008–November 17, 2...
Burned area: 1,940 acres (785 ha)
Cost: $5.7 million (2008 USD)
My father in law had just died and we were trying to protect his property from burning down then as we had lost him a few months before. So, the house sitter and I (who was a retired Navy Fire Captain) decided to check to see how close the fire was to us. So, we drove towards the fire to see what we would have to do to save my father in Laws amazing home.
So, as we drove there neither of us knew Santa Barbara rules for fires. One of them that we didn't know about was "IF you have evacuated, turn your living room lights on and open your window blinds so police and firemen and fire women know you have evacuated" which is a specific rule only to Santa Barbara because of ongoing fires almost every year between Goleta and San Diego, especially near 101 and Malibu in the Coastal range next to the ocean there.
So, as we moved checking how near the fire was we noticed there were no policemen or firemen or fire women anywhere. We saw the curtains open on houses with lights on and we thought that meant that people were still there (otherwise why would they leave their lights on?
Then we came to an area where 10 houses were on fire and there were police there that told us to leave so we did as good citizens because they said we were in danger. So we left. But, I went up the wrong road after that to get a better view. As I did this after a time I realized this was a nearly fatal mistake because when I tried to go down that road out of the mountains there, gas mains were blowing up on either side of me by then and every house was on fire and my house sitter and I were very scared we might be burned up then.
So, we drove back to a fire station that we found out was being evacuated? and the last fireman there told us another way out so we wouldn't burn up in the fire then. So, we were saved by the last fireman evacuating that fire station that he told us was going to burn down. That was the Tea Fire in 2008 in November.
My wife was very upset with me because her Lexus SUV 2009 smelled like Smoke for several months so she was very angry with me. However, I was happy the retired Fire Captain and I hadn't died that night in the fire when we drove by exploding natural gas mains gushing fire 20 feet or more into the air as they exploded in fire and all the houses around us (every single one) were on fire. And there weren't any firemen or police there because they didn't want to die because there was no way to escape this fire then, except the one the fireman at the soon to be burned fire station told us about.
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