<p>Never wait. Last night mom60 was packing and her family thought she was overreacting. I told her to keep packing! On our news very late last night the time from evacuation warning to mandatory evacuation of some areas was 15 minutes or less. The fire was moving so quickly they were telling people don’t wait for the mandatory information, if you feel at all unsafe get out.</p>
<p>Thinking of all in Santa Barbara. Stay safe.</p>
<p>Good news this morning. The fire is at 30% containment and they expect to start letting some people go back home. Hopefully the predictions for lighter winds today are correct and we will see continued improvement.</p>
<p>Our houseguests have been allowed back home. Their neighborhood downgraded to a warning area. The marine layer is out in force and the temps cool. You can still see a bit of smoke up on the top of the hill but you have to look.
Someone said that half the town was evacuated and the other half had people staying with them. The police chief mentioned this morning that they have had no looters. I hope this is a testament to how everyone in the area came together to help one another.
The estimate of homes lost is 80 but most think that number will rise. The officials are very careful about posting any numbers prematurely.
Hsmom asked why do people stay in their homes? I think in this fire the warning area seemed so large and at times removed from the fire area that people think they are safe. Also a factor in this fire might have been that during the day when the wind is dead the fire seemed to be up in the hills and under control. Also the 3rd night when the fire erupted and got so out of control everyone was surprised since the wind did not come up till almost 8 pm. Another factor I saw is that depending on how long you have lived in the area you don’t understand how a fire can be up in the hills and in a extremely short time travel so far down towards town. I think if I had not lived here during the Painted Cave fire in 90 I would never believe that a fire could start way up the mountain and end up on the other side of HWY 101 in a very short period of time. Also there will always be those who think they can try to save their house.
Our philosophy has been family and animals are what is important. Things can always be replaced.
Now need to begin thinking about putting the photos and important papers back. The fire reminded me of the task I have been putting off of getting that stuff organized.
Our horses were evacuated last night from the barn so hoping they will be back soon. Haven’t yet found out where the trainer ended up taking them.</p>
<p>Hoping SBmom is OK.</p>