Fire!

View from Montecito Street

Smokey Sun Toward the Mesa Area

Western flank from Mesa area 4/8/09

Hi all

Another major fire, three within in one year! This is a view from our my office by the fig tree and from near our home in the mesa area across the valley late Wednesday afternoon. Condition could not be worse, 100 degree heat, high winds, low humidity and a fuel load that is over 40 years old. I threatens to get into the heart of the city. There are some 1200 fire fighters and an fleet of aircraft fighting the blaze. We could see the choppers shuttling between their water source downtown and the fire line up on the riviera and Mission district. Their chopping report could be heard all night as they continued to drop hundreds of gallons of water on hot spots. Late that night from a vantage point further up TV Hill, we could see numerous convoys of fire brigades racing from distant points with emergency lights on. They were on their way to the front lines for the battle.

Some 18,000 people have been evacuated all the way down to the main street of town, State Street. Homes, once again, are being lost to a wildfire. Earl Warren Show Grounds looks like a siege camp from a war zone. The cause in unknown at this time but it is sure to be related to human activity by fault or accident.

Jesusita Fire from TV Hill