The Tea Fire - Up In Smoke

November 14, 2008

It was 6:00 p.m. when I strolled out of the office to a strangely warm night. This time of year in Santa Barbara, it’s not entirely unusual to get warm winds from the southern desert, so I didn’t think twice about it. Around 6:30 while I walked my dog I saw the smoke – a large apocalyptic cloud of black smoke rising from the hills of Santa Barbara.

This entry is not so much a fun hunting entry, but more an information hunting entry to let all that are concerned about out little Toad home here in Santa Barbara what is going on. The office is safe downtown by the water, but that can’t be said for some of the folks that live up in the mountains above downtown. Here are some of the stats as of this morning: more than 100 homes destroyed, 2500 acres burned, approximately 500 firefighters are on the job along with helicopters, engines and fixed wing planes. About 5,400 homes have been evacuated – mandatory and voluntarily.

For more information and updates go to:
https://www.countyofsb.org/ceo/oes0.aspx?id=2332#Maps

If you are in the area and want to help there are a few things to consider first. Don’t go near the road closures. Don’t overwhelm first responders when they are trying to focus on the job at hand – this means going to relief organizations (without checking on what they need), hospitals, shelters, etc. Please always call or go online to find out how you can help. That said, they welcome the help where needed and donations are always welcome. Visit the Red Cross web site for more information on how to donate and where to volunteer http://www.sbredcross.org/.

Also, Direct Relief International, a disaster relief organization in our home town is offering up face masks for the public to help with health concerns from the smoke. Get details here www.directrelief.org.

We hope that the wind doesn’t kick up again today causing an already disastrous situation to get worse. I will update this as I get information on how the Toad family is doing. At this point we have people that have been evacuated from their homes, but I do not have any further information. I will let you know how we fair. Keep us in your thoughts.