just talked to boom, and a HUGE fire is in Montecito, lots of homes gone....heading toward SB...I just saw the local news, and it is bad...very bad....

NO!! NO!! I thought this cursed fire season was over.

Tara, BIG good wishes, dear.

Must go turn on the news....

the electricity came back for now...
they've declared a state of emergency and it is bad.
Guy left about a 1/2 hour ago.

The winds are erratic - right now it's dead calm here. I can see huge flames from my wonderful little kitchen nook.

Lots of prayers for the firefighters ---- two civilians have been burned.

crap.....

How close is it to you, Tara? Please keep us posted.

It looks close from the news. This is awful.

Hey Barbara. It's really close. I can't be outside because the smoke is so thick.
This is the fire they always said, "Not IF but WHEN"
although the winds have completely died down here at my house which is good news because that means it is not being pushed towards town.
------
it seems to be moving back down south....

Ok, I'm going to bed. This is the first place I will look in the morning, hoping for good news...well, good news is probably out of the question, but I'll hope to read that Tara, Guy, and the kids are ok.

Thanks CB
The kids and I will be fine... I'm so worried about a few friends and have offered our home to a few others.

Tomorrow will begin the work for me and the neighbors in helping where we can.

Just heard from Guy. He is safe and back at his station for the night.

The air and sky around my house is completely clear. I can even see some clearing over the waterfront so that's really good news ~ the wind has shifted and is going back up mountain rather than down towards town. Absolutely not over by any means but the town is safe if the winds don't change.
I see FoxNews.com has it at 100 homes

Our local news is here: KEYT local tv station

Please keep the prayers going. I just found out about a young firefighter who burned his lungs from the Gap fire last summer. I didn't realize the severity of his injuries. He's only 27 years old and has worked all his life to be a firefighter - he won't be able to go back on the floor.

Wow, that is scary.

I will keep all in my thoughts, I hope Guy stays safe, glad to hear he is OK.

Tara

I hope the fires keep away from you, best wishes to you, Guy and your fur babies.

Tara, you and Guy stay safe, hope the fire gets put out quickly and the winds stay away from town. Keep us posted.

Tara, ditto to what everyone has already said. Hugs to you all.

Tara be safe. Will keep you, Guy, your fur kids and all those fighting the fires in my thoughts.
Hope the winds lay down long enough to get the fires out.
Hugs to All

Tara....the south texas prayer team is sending sending..all you guys stay safe.

cheeser

Florida prayer team is here too. Take care.

Yikes! Good thoughts coming from Illinois!!! Be safe!

More FL thoughts...I hope you all are safe!!! Let us know ASAP!! In other words, WAKE UP and get on HERE!!!!

This does not sound good at all Tara. Let's hope the wind Gods are on your side and that Guy stays safe.

Tara, I thought of you this morning when I heard this on the news. Thought of Guy and all the others risking their lives to help.
I have been praying for you and your city and will continue to do so.
Be safe!

Thanks everyone.
I haven't heard from Guy since last night. So other than what's on the news I don't know much else. I have two friends who are most likely to have lost homes --- not mansions just homes

Looking out from my patio is pretty surreal... the smoke obscures the hills but the ocean is clear.

Hopefully this calm will hold beyond noon but that's when they expect the winds to pick up again.

Time to gather up a few neighbors and see what we can do to help.

Please keep the prayers going - it will be a heartbreaking day today.

Yikes, I read this on CNN and thought about Boom and others living in the area, didn't realize it was THAT close! Good thoughts and prayers, Boom and Guy!

I just got up so haven't looked at the news. last night on TV, it was absolutely unbelievable. It went from 30 acres at 6:00pm, to 3000 (i think) at 9pm when boom called...homes were burning everywhere...flames were reaching 60 feet in the air.

Boom, hugs for Guy and his fellow conmrads. As we were watching it on TV last night, I thought...I could NOT be married to a firefighter...I freak when Micahel drives to San Pedro for a survey...lol!

check out the front page of cnn...www.cnn.com

of course, they changed the lead story to politics...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/14/california.fires/index.html

Cnn i reports have some amazing and heartbreaking pictures

http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=16940

Tara,
I woke up early this morning and was scared for you, Guy and everyone that direction! Please keep us posted and our prayers are going out to everyone affected.

HUGS.....

Tara, the first thing I did this morning was turn on the news and send good vibes your way. Scary! Please know we are thinking of you and Guy and the rest of the furfamily. I pray that he is kept safe while at work. Please let me know if their is anything you need or if I can help in any way. Good thoughts coming your way and big hugs too.

It was 76 degrees here at 8 am and the wind is howling, very strange weather.

Boom,
Here's more good wishes and thoughts from the midwest. I hope Guy and all his fellow firefighters stay safe and there are no more human losses.

Keep us in the loop and let us know what progress is being made.

I've spent the whole morning watching the fire and water drops from the patio, talking with friends and neighbors and watching the local news.
The great news (so far) my friends' homes are not burned (at least as of this morning).
Guy is still assigned to his station - so he's going a little bananas. He'd much rather be on the helicopter.

I took this picture from inside my house - out the living room window.

Huge flames have been visible and the planes and helicopters are all over.

I don't have confirmation but I've heard that one of the burn victims has passed away and that we're nearing 150-200 homes burned.

HUGE HUGE prayers your way - why is it always something? Much love Tara, much love - many prayers, vibes and thoughts.

Tara, that's close!!!!!!

Well, it's just going on 2pm here --- Santa Ana's usually start to kick in around 3.

It's looking really good out there right now, just barely a slight breeze.

I'm going to pull myself away from watching and go to work for an hour or so.

Thanks again everyone.

Oh and I spoke with one friend - he drove as close as he could get to his home and walked in the rest of the way --- it's still there

No winds tonight and they should have this thing wrangled in no time.

It'll be a blessing to hear that it's wrangled. I'm glad Guy is where he is, despite going bananas. I like him being safe for you. It is such a sudden tragedy. My heart goes out to all of the little people that have lost so much. The big people can replace it in the blink of an eye, but the little people struggle so much already......

Thanks Gail.
I just got to work a bit ago --- I should have come down here sooner. The big tanker planes are dropping the phoscheck (the pink stuff) on the hills just right here.

It's frustrating that the media keeps calling it Oprah's town.... it's so far from that. The worst hit seems to be Westmont College, update for students where 14 faculty homes (very modest homes), a dorm, the physics, the math and the psychology buildings have burned down. Another huge loss is the Mount Calvary Monastery virtual visit. Every building has been lost.
Along Las Alturas road they say pretty much every other home has burned to the ground - a lot of these homes are home to elderly who have lived here all their lives. Yes, it's beautiful but not everyone is a celebrity or uberwealthy.

I got an email from the daughter of another friend who I was so worried for --- they have gotten back to their home and it was spared

I'm going to finish up here and head out - just in case those winds do materialize, I'd rather be home than on the roads. It was crazy getting home last night in the winds.

When we were walking to the car a palm frond slammed into my shoulder - let me tell you if that had hit my head I'd be in the hospital right now. I've got a huge lump from it. Lesson learned!

My Gosh I wish I could take good nite pictures.... it's absolutely STUNNING!!!

The winds haven't developed beyond 4 mile gusts, it's so clear and calm. The temperatures are lower, if you didn't know there had just been a horrific event you just wouldn't know it.

Thank you all for the collective prayers, vibes and good wishes. It would seem that Santa Barbara has been spared.
Truly unbelievable!

Tara, when I looked at the maps on the NorCal news last night, it looked like the fire was right in your lap...I just freaked out!

So glad those maps were wrong! I'm in San Luis now, and the fire is, of course, all over the news. So much loss. I'm so glad you and yours have dodged it.



Oh, and in the pic from your breakfast nook.....there's the glass ball! Cool!

I love that glass ball - thank you so much

This fire was as close to our lap as I want. It started in the 'front country' and that wind last nite was frightening.

We literally went from one extreme (hell) to the other tonight (heaven).

There was a big one started in San Luis today but they got it handled pretty quickly.

Any rate, I came home and got on the treadmill --- that felt good

Agh.....MY San Luis??? I'll have to check out the local news, haven't seen anything about it so far. Maybe they're trying to not freak out the civilians!

It's to bed now for me....lots to do tomorrow. I hope you sleep better tonight, Tara! And hugs to Guy...