SANTA BARBARA, Calif., May 9, 2009
More Than 30,000 Evacuate Calif. Wildfire
11 Firefighters Hurt As Santa Barbara Blaze Grows To Five Miles
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Towering palm trees explode as flames jump across State Highway 154 early Friday morning May 8, 2009, in Santa Barbara, Calif., bringing the fire dangerously close to heavily-populated areas. (AP Photo/Keith Cullom)
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A DC-10 aerial tanker makes a retardant drop on an unburned area as efforts to fight the Jesusita fire continue in the mountains above Santa Barbara, Calif., Friday, May 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
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A firefighting helicopter drops water on a hot spot near Santa Barbara, Calif., May 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
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Play CBS Video Video Fires Rage In Santa Barbara Firefighters and state officials in California are trying to contain wild blazes throughout the Santa Barbara area which have left many homes destroyed in the region. Ben Tracy reports.
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Video Calif. Fires Claim Homes The weather in Santa Barbara, Calif. turned against firefighters, fueling wildfires and taking homes, reports Ben Tracy. Harry Smith talks to Capt. David Sadecki from the Santa Barbara Cty. Fire Dept.
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Video Wildfire In Santa Barbara "CBS News RAW:" Fire crews and helicopters are trying to contain a wildfire in the foothills of Santa Barbara, Calif. The 400-acre fire is threatening some 2,000 homes, forcing many to evacuate.
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Photo Essay California Wildfires The Jesusita wildfire threatening Santa Barbara homes has grown to 400 acres.
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Interactive Wildfires Photo essays, the worst U.S. fires, facts on fire science and health issues.
Authorities warned an additional 23,000 to be ready to leave at a moment's notice, despite improving weather conditions.
"There will be a point in the incident when I will have cautious optimism but I'm not there yet," said Joe Waterman, the overall fire commander from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Columns of smoke rose off the Santa Ynez Mountains as the 4-day-old blaze - fanned by "sundowner" winds that sweep down the slopes in the evening - blew up from 2,700 acres to 3,500 in less than a day, creating a firefighting front five miles long.
"It's crazy. The whole mountain looked like an inferno," said Maria Martinez, 50, who with her fiance hurriedly left her home in San Marcos Pass, on the edge of Santa Barbara. The couple went to an evacuation center at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Predicted sundowner winds didn't happen late Friday as breezes blew in from the Pacific Ocean, pushing the fire away from homes, said Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Tom Franklin. But he warned that the sundowners "could surface, change back around and blow the fire back downhill."
Franklin said, "We should have some good, positive things to say, maybe in a couple of days here, when the weather starts to change."
Still, residents are being warned of extreme danger. So far no evacuees were allowed to return home.
Sheriff Bill Brown said, "We feel very strongly we have to keep the evacuated areas evacuated."
An unknown number of homes were destroyed in the blowup that began Thursday night, in addition to the estimated 75 houses that burned the night before on the ridges and in the canyons above Santa Barbara.
No deaths have been reported.
Eleven firemen have been injured fighting this fire, including three who were burned in a firestorm on Wednesday.
Two firemen were doing standard house protection when they were overrun by flames.
Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper said, "All of a sudden the fire blew up in size and intensity."
The two ran into a house, put on breathing gear and stayed until the house caught fire. Then they ran out and were rescued by their captain.
All three are being treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
L.A. County Fire Captain Bob Goldman said, "We're seeing much angrier fires, more homes being consumed, more firefighters being injured and maimed."
A team from Goldman's station was surrounded by flames this week. The fire damaged their truck and one firefighter was injured, all in a matter of seconds.
While all of the injured firefighters are expected to recover, the two most severely burned have undergone surgery and will need skin grafts to heal.
The number of people ordered to evacuate rose to 30,500 from 12,000 the night before as the blaze pushed west toward neighboring Goleta and east toward well-to-do Montecito.
"Literally last night, all hell broke loose," Santa Barbara Fire Chief Andrew DiMizio said Friday morning, recounting firefighters' efforts to put out roof fires and keep flames out of his section of the city.
The eight-member Wasjutin family arrived at the university campus in three cars and a trailer packed with four dogs, eight baby chickens, two cockatiels, an iguana, a rat named Cutie and an African spur tortoise. They fled their 40-acre San Marcos Pass property after watching the flames grow closer. They left three horses and three hens behind.
"We drove down through fire on both sides," said Silvia Wasjutin, 48, a speech pathologist.
In a scene of strange contrasts, students bicycled to classes and midterms as ash fell on campus, and boats bobbed in Santa Barbara's harbor as smoke rose from the mountains above town.
The Santa Barbara area has long been a favorite of celebrities. Oprah Winfrey has an estate in Montecito, where Charlie Chaplin's old seaside escape, the Montecito Inn, has stood since 1928. A ranch in the mountains that Ronald and Nancy Reagan bought became his Western retreat during his presidency.
More than 2,300 firefighters battled the blaze, using at least 246 engines, 14 air tankers and 15 helicopters. A DC-10 jumbo jet tanker capable of dumping huge loads of retardant began making runs on the fire in the afternoon.
The cause of the blaze, which broke out Tuesday, remained under investigation.
Evacuation shelters were set up, and hotels offered deals to evacuees.
"Right now, if you're not evacuated in the Santa Barbara area, you are sheltering evacuees," DiMizio said.
Oscar Funez, 39, his wife, Patricia, 42, and their son, Augustin, 4, were watching the fire on television Thursday night when they noticed other tenants leaving their Santa Barbara apartment building. They packed a suitcase and fled, too.
"It's our fourth fire in Santa Barbara. We know we have to have everything - paperwork, clothes, everything - ready to go," Oscar Funez said.
The family spent the night on cots at the university, and their little boy was given a stuffed elephant toy by a Red Cross worker. "We must be bad parents, because we didn't bring his stuffed animals," his father joked.
At historic Santa Barbara Mission, established by the Spanish in 1786, the Rev. Tom Messner was one of three friars permitted to remain during the evacuation. He helped make sandwiches for the firefighters.
Messner said there was plenty of smoke, but "I can't see the flames, and we have fire trucks in front of the place, so we feel very safe." The church, a major tourist attraction, was built in 1820, after an earthquake destroyed the previous structure.
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- cet incendie est incroyable, les degats aussi, je souhaite néanmoins, qu'il nyai pas (encore) plus de blessés, que ces derniers soient bien soignés et relogés aussi, désolée..
Posted by sam-kiley at 5:17 AM : May 10, 2009
Translation by babelfish.yahoo:
this fire is incredible, the damage also, I wish nevertheless, qu' it nyai not (still) more casualties, than the latter are well looked after and rehoused also, afflicted.
Now, any nitwit can translate from one language to another-me included. ; ) - Reply to this comment
- cet incendie est incroyable, les degats aussi, je souhaite néanmoins, qu'il nyai pas (encore) plus de blessés, que ces derniers soient bien soignés et relogés aussi, désolée..
- Reply to this comment
- It would seem all these years that Mother Nature is sending a message. Insurance rates must be sky high because insurance companies decide to base premiums on national occurrences, we are all being screwed by the homeowners in the mountains. The Wasjutin family left 3 horses behind. I certainly hope they left the gate open so the horses could get away.
- Reply to this comment
- How much would it cost to put in a sprinkler system in these places that get frequent forest fires?
Posted by donald781 at 5:59 AM : May 9, 2009
Interesting thought. Be sure to file an environmental impact statement with the EPA first. Also, you best check with the Sierra Club about putting fire hydrant sized sprinklers all over the landscape. And last, where are you going to get the water in southern california for these sprinklers to sprinkle? - Reply to this comment
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