2017--santa paula FIRE, and nearby... 25000 acres,evacuation

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couchmaster

climber
Dec 12, 2017 - 11:41am PT
ANOTHER CALIFORNIA ARSONIST CAUGHT! https://twitter.com/ACSOSheriffs/status/894999009231740928

"Alfredo Bautista was arrested Wednesday on charges of alleged arson and assault in connection to the Grizzly Fire, which broke out at the intersection of Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Fish Ranch Road in the Berkeley Hills on Wednesday afternoon."


"has confessed to setting last week's Oakland Hills fire and seven other blazes with a cigarette lighter, University of California, Berkeley police say."
D. Rivas

climber
Ventura, CA.
Dec 12, 2017 - 01:54pm PT
The Thomas Fire has burnrd 230,000 acres so far. At present, CalFire is slugging it out on five fronts; Romero Canyon near Monticito, Lake Casitas, Dry Lakes Ridge creeping down Cherry Creek, Lion Canyon and Bear Heaven/Sespe Condor Sanctuary near Fillmore. It seems that they have things in-hand, but they are saying only 20% containment.

The air quality in Ventura today is terrible. Very smoky. Seems worse today than yesterday. Sometimes the wind helps, but most of the time it doesn’t.

I’ve heard that the fire burned around Wheeler Gorge proper but that the crag/creek were spared. The Sespe Gorge, Potrero John Slab, The Fortress, the Snake Pits and Pine Mtn are all ok for now.


neebee

Social climber
calif/texas
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2017 - 03:49pm PT
hey there, say, D. Rivas... thank you for the update...
neebee

Social climber
calif/texas
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2017 - 06:42pm PT
hey there say, all... oh my... my aunt is there... she is okay...

and, she said there is ASH on her car, everyday, :O and the air, as we
all know, is very bad...


glad, that, as far as we know, she is not in danger...
ron gomez

Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
Dec 13, 2017 - 11:01am PT
Hey say Lizzie...where is Mark?
Peace
Batrock

Trad climber
Burbank
Dec 13, 2017 - 11:05am PT
Dean, the way things are going it will be in Slotown by next week. We can sure use a return of even just a moist on shore flow. On a side note, how are you liking SLO? My aunt and uncle started the Apple Farm Inn and restaurant years ago when I was a little kid. I remember sleeping under the booths as my dad and mom helped demo and construction. My aunt and uncle sold it several years ago but I still stop in for apple dumplings whenever I am in the area.
Batrock

Trad climber
Burbank
Dec 13, 2017 - 02:31pm PT
Dean, I will make sure and be there. The new REI is only a mile form my house, kinda nice but kinda dangerous too.
neebee

Social climber
calif/texas
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2017 - 03:13pm PT
hey there, ron... he, i think? is up in oakhurst area, :)

last i heard from my mom, the ventura place was okay...
ron gomez

Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
Dec 13, 2017 - 05:37pm PT
Thanks Lizzie, someone asked the other day, I told them last I heard, Chapman was up in Yosemite still, but that was a few years ago.
Peace

Thank you for the Christmas card!
neebee

Social climber
calif/texas
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2017 - 06:51pm PT
hey there say, ron... you are MOST welcome...

hee hee, i keep remembering one thread, years back...

'rolodex' ron... :) (back, when i needed an address or something-- or yours,
or, don't remember now?)


:)
ron gomez

Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
Dec 13, 2017 - 07:57pm PT
Still get a lot of calls for contacts!
Peace
jstan

climber
Dec 14, 2017 - 02:18pm PT
I can't tell where Dean got his photos. Does not look like SB. There is no fire visible on the ridge behind town and up to Calle Real. People are saying Winfrey's house in Montecito is burning, which if it were true, would have me worried. Don't think it is true. If you look at the fire map you see a finger pointed west. Last night was disappointing though. Petie is amusing herself at REI. All the firefighters buying stuff there remain pretty hopeful even though Wed was disappointing. I think three sky cranes are flying over our place on the way to Montecito. The landscaping in Montecito has trees packed into little cells with poor accessibility. Insane. CalFire says they are backfiring above Montecito in hopes of forcing the fire onto the 10 year old footprints from theTea and Jesusito . Right now they are working in 60 year old fuel. Ten mInuits ago the air cranes stopped flying over this area. Possibly the backfiring has been completed.

During the Jesusito fire I was wandering in 60 year old slash about six feet deep - until I noticed it was full of embers. Trying to see if I could keep the fire outside of our development. Pretty stupid. Ten minutes after I got out, it literally blew up.

I have some eight hoses in place ready to cool down the four sides of our place. As long as the hoses don't melt and we don't run out of water pressure, the place should be sort of defendable. Still have to close off the soffits under the roof.
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Dec 14, 2017 - 02:25pm PT
jstan.... good luck.

fingers crossed.

Tadman

Mountain climber
CA
Dec 14, 2017 - 03:21pm PT
Tadman

Mountain climber
CA
Dec 14, 2017 - 03:22pm PT
Tadman

Mountain climber
CA
Dec 14, 2017 - 03:23pm PT
Ricky D

Trad climber
Sierra Westside
Dec 14, 2017 - 03:23pm PT
JStan, no, Oprah is not burning. Her compound lies on the Southside of East Valley and is not in the fires path. By the way, when someone asks about Oprahs house, ask them which one?

She owns 4 around her main mansion so far.
chappy

Social climber
oakhurst
Dec 14, 2017 - 03:43pm PT
As a number of people have inquired about how the fire has affected my wife and I and our property in Ventura I thought I would post up. First off, our property is fine--the fire burned primarily in the hills above Ventura and our houses are located closer to the beach out of the hills.
However, we were in the Oakview/Ojai area when the fire started and it was quite the experience. We were staying with Jamie's parents at their home in hilltop neighborhood called Saddle Mountain. This is just on the other side of the mountains from where the fire started in Santa Paula. Monday evening my wife mentioned that a fire had started in Santa Paula. I didn't really pay much attention to her comment as fires are quite common here in CA. I also remember watching the local news that evening and they had remarked on how windy it was going to be over the next several days. Hadn't quite put two and two together at that point. Later that evening we were sitting around in the family room watching some TV when the power went out. It flickered back on then went out permanently. This was my first inkling that something was amiss as I wondered if the fire was connected to the power outage. With the power out everyone but me went to bed totally oblivious to the carnage that had now been raging for several hours. I wandered out back to check the moon and stars out and noticed what seemed to be a huge fog bank beginning to obscure the moon in the direction of Santa Paula. I was just beginning to grasp what was going on but was still unclear of the magnitude of destruction. I went back in the house to tell Jamie what I saw but she was asleep. I went outside again and walked around to the front of the house where I was shocked to see the entire distant horizon over the city Ventura was a pulsating orange glow.
My God I thought this is insane. With no TV, internet and my shitty ATT cell service I had no way of knowing exactly what was going on. Then I remembered the good old car radio. I tuned into 1070 and got the full extent of the carnage. I just sat there for a few hours watching the blazing fire in the distance until the pulsating orange glow appeared ominously behind the hills just to the S.E. of Saddle Mountain where I had first noticed the smoke plume. This closeness of the pulsating orange glow coupled with the news reports of how fast the fire was traveling motivated me to wake the household. We all debated what to do and decided to hunker down for the rest of the evening (the night air was quite calm--very little wind). In the morning (Tues.)we huddled around the radio listening to the dire reports coming in from all around LA & Ventura as smoke billowed over the hills to the S. and E. We knew it was just a matter of time before the fire crested the hills to the S.E. and began burning down the hill towards Creek Rd--the last potential fire break before the houses on Saddle Mountain. We started packing and making plans to evacuate as did the entire neighborhood. The order to evacuate came in the early afternoon as the flames crested the hill and started down towards Creek Rd. We decided to wait until the last possible moment as the winds were calm and the fire was burning relatively slowly (downhill). If it crossed Creek Rd we would flee. Fortunately, it pretty much stopped there so we ended up spending another night (keeping a watchful eye on things). We awoke to thick smoke and everything covered in ash. Jamie and I left for home that morning heading down the 33 through the charred hills and smoke choked Ventura. [photoid=518350]
chappy

Social climber
oakhurst
Dec 14, 2017 - 03:50pm PT
ron gomez

Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
Dec 14, 2017 - 07:07pm PT
Good to hear yer good Mark! Stay safe. We had a scare down south in Fallbrook, not near the magnitude of the Thomas blaze, but thought we might loose our place, but all turned out good for us...not so good for many others.
Peace
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