It's 10pm and a very threatening fire is burning just miles outside of Goleta/Santa Barbara. Guy was called in but they just sent him home to rest up for an early morning lift off on the helicopter.
The sundowners are relatively light but evacuations have begun.
Please keep us in your thoughts tonight and tomorrow. This fire is way too close for comfort - literally.

Hopefully with sunlight tomorrow the air crew can get a hold on things.

my thoughts are with u both. keep us informed.
es

Tara ,
I'm visualising torrential rainstorms and send them to you .

hang in there!

Sjoss

Thank you Elaine.... it's midnight which is the end of the sundowner winds watch and a good 2 hours past my normal zonk time; I'm pooped.
The local station has given way to Niteline.
The winds are practically nill, temps are warm but not hot and it's either a bit humid or I'm having a hot flash.....
time for a bit of sleep.

See ya'll in the morning, if my internet connection decides to play nice.

You snuck in there on me Sjoss.... I don't know why but your posts always make me smile.

Tara

We hope you and Guy keep safe along with your furry friends.

Good Morning. I just found this, it was posted 2 hours ago.
Tara, I hope that you guys are ok. I will send whatever it is I'm sending to you and to Guy & the other firefighters so that all will be ok. Very scary. Please keep us posted...


GOLETA, Calif.—A wildfire in the Los Padres National Forest has forced authorities to evacuate residents living in the canyon areas north of Goleta in Santa Barbara County.
U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Good says the fire has burned roughly 50 acres of heavy brush in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains. She says winds are pushing the fire down a slope toward homes in the Glen Annie and La Patera canyons.

Authorities issued a mandatory evacuation for residents in those areas. A shelter has been opened at San Marco High School for residents and their small pets.

Hand crews will work throughout the night battling the blaze and will be rejoined by firefighting aircraft at daylight.

Goleta is located about 8 miles northwest of Santa Barbara.

We will keep all in our thoughts. I hope that all will be OK.

Tara, I hope this fire can be extinguished soon and that all firefighters walk away unharmed.

Tara - thinking of you and Guy and everyone touched by the fires. Hopefully the firefighters will get the fires under control today and all will be well.
Please keep us updated

Tara, let us know as you have updates. Will be keeping you all in my thoughts and praying for rain.

Tara...Prayers and good WET thoughts...(the rain kind LOL) coming your way!

Tara, hopefully today will be a better day with getting all those fires under control. It has been a record breaking year for fires in CA. Stay safe and praying for huge rain storms to come your way and for the safety of those firefighters and those whose homes are in danger.

Good thoughts Boom! I hope you get some rain soon.

Wow - I hope you're resting well, you two. And sincerely hope the fires are under control by now.

Tara, I was thinking of you and Guy all week while watching the fires on TV. ((((((HUGS)))))) and rain storms to you, Guy and all the firefighters and other emergency personnel out there on the front line.

Found this from last night:
http://www.independent.com/news/2008/jul/01/wildfire-burns-above-goleta/


(Message edited by recdivers on July 2, 2008)

Thought and prayers for all the people effected by these fires. It does not look much better this morning. From here



They look to be 20 miles north of Boom.

Tara, good thoughts and prayers out to you. Katie told me she is having a very hard time breathing up in San Francisco. You and Guy hang in there.

Tara, I hope you and Guy are safe and the crews get a handle on the fire.

Morning Everyone - thanks for all the good thoughts. We got lucky last night and the winds didn't pick up. So far, so good.

Boom, oh my. Reading your post brought back the nightmares of last summer with the Santiago Canyon fires, and the Camp Pendleton fires that were so close to us. it is so frightening when you can see the flames and smoke so close to your home...hugs to you, and special hugs to Guy that all will be safe, and they get the fires under control.

We took a trip to San Diego a couple of months ago, and along the road where everything was burnt to a crisp, there is new life flourising everywhere, you'd never know there was such devestation a year ago. I hope the same for those fires up North....I just cant' think about the little animals

Tara, just woke up and all the news stations from LA north are broadcasting only info on the Gap fire in Goleta and also on the Piute fire east of Bakersfield. Prayers to Guy and all the firefighters to get a hand on all this devastation before it becomes a catastrophe again! Hope the smoke isn't too bad where you are. We have to make a trip to Bakersfield today to get last minute supplies before our trip to Bonaire...they say the air quality there is quite harmful because of all the smoke congregating into the San Jaquin Valley from all the California fires.

Boom, my best thought for you and Guy and all the firefighters to stay safe.
Please know you are welcome to come stay with us if you need a place to go for a few days. I will keep you and all the people in Goleta/SB in my thoughts.

Hey Boom, just saw the news...looks HUGE, prayers that you and Guy stay safe...Unbelievable summer here in California, we've had only a couple of days of clear skies in the past week with the air quality way over "unsafe". Folsom Lake is near empty and the forests are dry dry dry....

Does anyone know how to do a rain dance?

You guys be safe.

Tara & Guy, my thoughts and prayers are with you. I hope some rain will finally come your way soon. I watch the news every night and am amazed by the devastation. God bless all of you living out there.

Boom - hugs to you and Guy as you brave this scary stuff. I'm praying for rain for YOU, but not anymore for us due to all the midwestern flooding

Hopefully all the firefighters will be home safely and soon!

Rain dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdczUV8uN1U

another rain dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zOWGX4-wv8

I wish I could send all of our rain...... Every night for the past week. It just seems so unbalanced.

Thanks gang... it's really odd. I've been working from home and it's actually quite pretty out.
I wish the same could be true for Northern California.

Now as long as the winds don't start up too early and too heavy ---- fingers crossed!!

Tara,
Please stay safe!!! Sorry I'm late with replies; still recouping from weekend company

Keep us posted on you guys!

So far so good... I think.
I'm heading out to the accountant's and by the time she finishes with me I'll be ready to go HOME!

I wish I had gone to the other side of the circle (the street I live on) last night - I probably could have gotten some amazing photos. Hopefully I won't be able to see anything tonight.

This isn't the exact location of the Gap Fire but I think it's pretty close. My house is the yellow thumbtack in the lower right corner --- close enough for me.


May the Sundowner Gods be with us tonight.

That looks like a lot of distance on this map but honestly it's only 9 miles from my house to the far end of Goleta.
Hop, skip and a jump....

Too close Boom. Hopefully the Sundowner Gods are with you, Guy, and his crew. Nine miles is SCARY.

Good luck Guy and Tara.

I hope everything is OK this morning!

thank u for the map. my prayers are with u and guy. hope he and other firefighters are safe.
es