Paul Wellman
Los Padres National Forest Service fire fighters
Santa Barbara Endures Its Most Threatening Natural Disaster Ever
Jesusita Fire, Day by Day
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The Jesusita Fire forced an estimated 30,000 South Coast residents from Goleta to Montecito out of their homes and put another 30,000 on warning. In its wake, 78 homes were lost and another 22 damaged, not to mention the more than 100 outbuildings that got torched. But the real story is how many homes were saved by the brave and diligent firefighters who personally fought off the flames through the night, risking their own lives and sustaining injuries to do so. As of The Santa Barbara Independent‘s press deadline, the threat has subsided, and the fire is nearly 100-percent contained.
Ray Ford
To memorialize the past week’s physical, emotional, and psychological drama, we present this special issue, which serves as a rundown of the work completed by the more than one dozen writers, editors, photographers, map-makers, designers, and Webmasters at The Santa Barbara Independent who worked around the clock to deliver the latest and most critical news to our community. But this is a mere glimpse at the more than 70 articles produced by The Independent during this disaster. To see them all, head straight to independent.com/jesusita.
By Ray Ford
Crew command, Jesusita Fire.
Reporter’s Notebook
Tuesday, May 5
1:40 p.m.: A brush fire starts in San Roque Canyon near the Jesusita Trail. Rumors swirl as to the origin: gunshots, a blown transformer, and a Vandenberg Air Force Base missile launch are all suspects. Investigators have since determined that the inferno was sparked by someone using a power tool to clear brush along lower stretches of the Jesusita Trail.
2:15 p.m.: Smoke and flames are clearly visible from downtown Santa Barbara as the newborn wildfire officially becomes the Jesusita Fire.
2:20 p.m.: The Indy’s wilderness reporter Ray Ford, located on a ridge to the east of San Roque Canyon, reports 40- to 50-foot flames burning straight uphill as two helicopters work to put out the half-acre wildfire. People living near the fire area report mandatory evacuation orders for portions of Tunnel and Holly roads as well as Spyglass Ridge. Dozens of other Mission Canyon residents voluntarily start packing their bags.
3 p.m.: Winds continue to build in the foothills and canyons of Santa Barbara with gusts registering in excess of 40 mph.
3:39 p.m.: On scene in the Foothill Road area, Indy reporter Chris Meagher gets confirmation from a CHP officer that much of Mission and San Roque canyons are indeed being evacuated.
4:01 p.m.: The City of Santa Barbara issues official mandatory evacuation orders for all residents north of Foothill Road between Ontare and Gibraltar roads. Santa Barbara’s Red Cross opens a shelter at First Presbyterian Church on Constance Avenue and State Street.
4:30 p.m.: With 150 acres already burned, 70 fire engines are on scene along with 14 strike teams. County fire officials report another 20 strike teams-each one with 14 firefighters and five engines-are en route.
4:40 p.m.: Ford observes from his perch above the fire: “Things are looking pretty bad right now. : Flames are heading right into the main upper part of Mission Canyon.”
5 p.m.: A majority of the 175 brush-eating goats located in Mission Canyon are evacuated safely with flames bearing down on them. Sadly, as of press time, some 35 of the goats left behind remain unaccounted for and feared dead.
6:45 p.m.: Ford, now with a crew of firefighters up on Spyglass Ridge Road, estimates that “there is potential for the fire being down on Tunnel Road in three to four hours, maybe less. : I don’t see how there won’t be some house-to-house battles going on later tonight.”
7:30 p.m.: Numbers from an evening press conference at the Cater Water Treatment Plant include 1,000 people successfully evacuated, some 1,200 homes notified of mandatory evacuation orders via a knock on the door from law enforcement, approximately 200 firefighters on hand with nearly 220 more making their way to a staging area at Earl Warren Showgrounds, and four helicopters doing water and fire retardant drops.
8 p.m.: The Red Cross relocates its shelter to Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, where 10 evacuees spend the night. Large animals are being accepted at Earl Warren.
9 p.m.: Officials report some 420 acres have burned, though no structure loss has occurred. Weather reports indicate that winds have subsided and, according to reports from Meagher and Ford, optimism is running high among firefighters that the overnight will hold more of the same.
By Paul Wellman
A reporter watches the Jesusita Fire progression on Wednesday night May 6, 2009.
Wednesday, May 6
7:30 a.m.: As firefighters from around the state converge on Earl Warren, fire officials at the morning press conference reveal the fire is at just 196 acres, opposed to the previously reported number of 420. A night of good weather conditions and aerial attack proved positive; still, the fire remains zero-percent contained with a scary weather report for the day, so five helicopters, four air tankers, and two scout planes are prepared for action.
11 a.m.: The Santa Maria Airport is now open to handling refueling and reloading retardant-dropping fixed-wing tankers fighting the fire. Nick Welsh reports that a failure by the U.S. Forest Service to renew its contract with a company servicing tankers in Santa Maria kept the airport off-limits to fixed-wing planes deployed by CalFire during the initial 24 hours of the wildfire.
As a result, the two fixed-wing planes dropping retardant are forced to reload in Porterville, rather than Santa Maria. The round-trip from Porterville to Santa Barbara is at least an hour longer than a Santa Maria trip. But city fire Battalion Chief Pat McElroy later said air support had been more than adequate, and that the battle will be won on the ground. “We are engaging where we can engage,” McElroy said.
Noon: Officials at the mid-day press conference are wary that the winds could pick up, and no one listening in the 90-degree heat has to be told it’s hot out. Winds are expected to reach gusts of 60 mph, while the relative humidity is already in the teens, a level considerably less than ideal. Despite competition from a fire in Arizona, fire officials here have not been denied the resources they’re requesting.
2:45 p.m.: Ray Ford reports that winds are beginning to pick up, and, in turn, so is the fire.
Ray Ford
4:15 p.m.: “This thing is way out of control,” says city fire spokesperson John Ahlman. “All we can do now is try to save some homes.” The fire is not far from Mission Canyon, and the wind is blowing south-southeast, in that direction, with gusts approaching 60 mph. Spot fires are occurring rapidly, and eyewitnesses report that homes are already burning. Air attacks are cut due to high winds. Refugees jam the streets in the extended evacuation zone, and six fire engines sit in front of the Mission. Spot fires ignite some nearby properties below Foothill Road. The Museum of Natural History begins moving its collections into fireproof vaults.
6 p.m.: A new CalFire command takes over from local officials, meaning a bigger, badder, more organized attack can be formed. Reports come across the radio scanner of engines getting overrun and burned and buildings on fire.
6:23 p.m.: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaims a state of emergency for Santa Barbara County. The designation opens up the ability to seek federal reimbursement for up to 75 percent of the costs of the fight.
7 p.m.: Chris Meagher reports the fire ran through the Botanic Garden, and active fire is still flaring on both sides of Mission Canyon Road. Downed power lines prevent a trip farther up the road.
8 p.m.: The fire is blowing east toward Rattlesnake Canyon and the foothills above Montecito. At the same time, evening winds are again pushing it down into San Roque Canyon near the Cater Water Treatment Plant, and it continues a march up the mountains to the ridgeline. The mountainside that frames Santa Barbara remains ablaze.
8:30 p.m.: In Mission Canyon, Ventura County firefighting veterans Ron Topolinski, Robert Lopez, and Brian Bulger have been injured and sent to the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, but all three should be released within a week.
8:45 p.m.: The winds seem to be dying down finally, reports Ford, back from his second trip to the front lines today. “All is pretty calm up there right now,” he says. The fire can still reach Camino Cielo and then bump down to other locations. “This has the potential to be Santa Barbara’s worst disaster ever, if all lines up wrong as it did today,” says Ford.
11 p.m.: As down-canyon winds subside, mandatory evacuation orders are downgraded to warnings for many areas of downtown Santa Barbara. Specifically, the upper State Street area near Alamar Avenue and San Roque Road are considered to be out of harm’s way.
Alex Abatie
The Jesusita Fire burning up to Rocky Pine, as seen from the wharf at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 7.
Thursday, May 7
Midnight: With thousands impacted by mandatory evacuation orders and warnings, most area schools cancel classes for Thursday.
2 a.m.: Despite mellowing wind conditions, localized gusts near Las Canoas Road and Skofield Park deliver what one area resident describes as “large fireballs” raining down from the upper Rattlesnake Canyon area.
7 a.m.: A first-light investigation of the fire’s burn area by Ethan Stewart reveals several homes damaged or completely destroyed in the Mission Canyon, Las Canoas, and Tunnel Road neighborhoods. Surveying the area by truck and foot, Stewart reports more houses saved than lost. First reports of actual addresses destroyed include locations in heavy-hit areas like Holly Road, Orange Grove Avenue, Spyglass Ridge, Montrose Place, Williams Way, and the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. More than 1,700 acres have been charred and the fire remains zero-percent contained.
9:40 a.m.: Forty minutes behind schedule, the political pandering begins in earnest as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, flanked by a gaggle of city, county, and state officials, holds a press conference at Earl Warren Showgrounds. The air cavalry appears to be on its way as the number of helicopters on scene doubles and fixed-wing aircraft triples. Sundowners are expected to return in earnest while temperatures in the canyons are expected to top out at over 100 degrees.
1:42 p.m.: Ray Ford reports that the fire is now firmly established in the upper reaches of three canyons: San Roque, Mission, and Rattlesnake. Despite widespread speculation that the eastern flank of the fire remains the number-one danger zone, Ford says that, based on his observations, a western run toward San Antonio Creek and Barger Canyon remains a distinct possibility.
6:35 p.m.: The forecasted sundowners have yet to materialize, but a steady, albeit weaker wind has pushed 50- to 60-foot flames to the west all afternoon. From a vantage point atop La Cumbre Peak, Ford observes, “It looks like bad things are happening. : It is now becoming a Goleta fire as well as a Santa Barbara fire.”
7 p.m.: Flames rip through part of the Arroyo Burro Trail, Ford reports. In the west, less-than-gale-force but still considerable winds scatter spot fires across the Foothill Road area, prompting engines to station themselves at homes in the Cocopah Drive, Cieneguitas Road, and San Antonio Creek Road areas.
7:45 p.m.: Chris Meagher, stationed near the end of Ontare Road, observes flames burning big in the foothills all around him, pushing west toward Highway 154 and down-canyon toward Foothill Road. “It’s just getting crazy,” says Meagher. “It’s impossible to tell what the fire is doing.”
8 p.m.: Scanner chatter is filled with alarmed firefighters and calls for the immediate repositioning of fire engines. In a series of urgent press releases, the mandatory evacuation areas are expanded west to all residents north of Foothill Road and east of Highway 154 as well as San Roque neighborhoods between State Street and Foothill Road and, on the eastern side of things, from Alameda Padre Serra to Sycamore Canyon.
8:28 p.m.: Now located just west of the 154 on Via Chaparral, Meagher says the Jesusita Fire has reached “full-on freak-out mode.” Mandatory evacuation orders now include Painted Cave and East Camino Cielo homes. Intersections near evacuated areas, such as Cathedral Oaks at Old San Marcos Pass, are jammed with a mixture of fleeing residents and rubber-necking looky-loos as ash the size of quarters rains down on parts of Santa Barbara and Goleta. In a press release, fire officials report 75 residences damaged or destroyed.
9 p.m.: Spot fires ignite the steep, brushy canyon between Northridge Road and Santa Teresita Drive, but firefighters manage to save all nearby homes, Ford reports.
9:15 p.m.: With unconfirmed rumors that the fire has jumped it, Highway 154 is officially closed. The fire is now estimated to be 2,739 acres with some 24,000 people under either mandatory or warning evacuation.
10 p.m.: The Jesusita Fire, pushed by erratic 40 mph winds, races through the San Marcos Foothills Preserve.
10:45 p.m.: As Jesusita roars west toward Goleta, endangering ever more homes and prompting evacuations of 18,000 more residents, Meagher reports from a press conference held on short notice at Earl Warren Showgrounds. Sheriff Bill Brown dubs Jesusita “probably the worst emergency that has faced the county in the last 25 years.” Officials disagree on whether the flames have jumped Highway 154 at this point. County Fire Chief Tom Franklin urges the public to flee now: “Make that decision to leave early. : We don’t want to count you as one of the victims of this fire.” At this point, 2,300 firefighters are battling Jesusita and 75 homes are estimated to have been burned or damaged. Fear runs rampant that the Jesusita could be the second coming of 1990’s devastating Painted Cave Fire.
10:50 p.m.: Mandatory evacuation orders are once again expanded. It now includes all areas north of Cathedral Oaks and west of Highway 154 all the way to Patterson Avenue. Inundated with thousands of new evacuees, the Santa Barbara Red Cross opens up a second shelter at UCSB’s MAC (Multi-Activity Center).
11:05 p.m.: Ray Ford reports seeing a “300-pound black bear” fleeing the flames near the end of Northridge Road.
By Paul Wellman
Friday, May 8
1 a.m.: Ethan Stewart, standing just below San Roque and Foothill roads, calls the area “a ghost town.” Meanwhile, the fire makes a run down San Roque, toward downtown, and firefighters make a concerted effort to hold Foothill. They also stamp out spot fires in Stevens Park and under San Roque Bridge. “The ash is so thick : it looks like it’s snowing,” says Stewart. Helicopters buzz despite strong winds and low visibility.
1:34 a.m.: Goleta residents get moving when a mandatory evacuation is ordered for all residents living north of Highway 101 and between Turnpike and downtown Santa Barbara. The county relocates its Fire Call Center. Through the night, the mandatory evacuation zone would be extended all the way to Patterson Avenue.
6:45 a.m.: Ray Ford reports that fire damage to Goleta was not as bad as he feared, despite houses smoldering near 154.
8:01 a.m.: Ben Preston reports from a 7 a.m. briefing that the fire’s eastern edge is burning Cold Spring Canyon. The previous night’s winds-clocked at 40-60 mph-have ceased, but Jesusita is still moving a quarter-mile an hour, even without wind.
8:19 a.m.: Driving through Montecito, Stewart reports no further damage in Mission and Rattlesnake canyons. Spot fires continue to plague the areas, however.
8:41 a.m.: Stewart reports 100-foot flames just west of Highway 154, about two miles north of San Antonio Creek. The flames did jump the 154, but only in spots.
9:49 a.m.: Nick Welsh reports that Westmont College is scrambling to evacuate 500-600 students on the eve of its graduation ceremonies within the three-hour window allotted by law enforcement.
11:20 a.m.: A 10 a.m. press conference reports on the new plan of attack against the eastern and western fronts of the Jesusita Fire. On the west, the flames have edged into the San Antonio Creek drainage; to the east, it remains in Cold Spring Creek. To the south, the battle on Ontare Road was especially fierce: “We were trying to go direct on the fire through the fuel, but once the wind picked up, it was back to the races,” says Los Angeles County Fire strike crew leader Ron Reed. The fight found a new ally, however, in the form of a DC-10 capable of dumping 12,000 gallons of retardant in a single drop. Based out of Lancaster, the DC-10 will travel 100 miles to Santa Barbara to deliver its load. Now the legion of firefighters includes 2,500 crewmembers-1,400 more than on Thursday.
1:43 p.m.: Welsh reports that the 1,000 inmates at the Santa Barbara County Jail won’t be evacuated even though they’re in the zone ordered to do so. “The jail is actually one of the safer places to be,” said Sheriff’s spokesperson Drew Sugars. “The jail was built to withstand a fire; it’s a really protected structure. And it has a large amount of defensible space around it.”
7:09 p.m.: Sam Kornell files an extensive address report on what’s been burned in the Tunnel, Cheltenham, Las Canoas, and Mission Canyon roads area, after riding his bicycle around for the area for hours. He and other reporters continue this address reporting through the weekend.
10:02 p.m.: Bakersfield Californian reporter Gretchen Wenner, who was in town visiting her parents and volunteered her services, reports that well-prepared fire crews get ready to stamp out spot fires near the Painted Cave area. Chumash artifacts survive because they are protected with fire retardant material.
Paul Wellman
Flames seen just west of Gibraltar Road.
Saturday, May 9
10 a.m.: Ford reports “cool, moist air” coming in while standing on Painted Cave Road, and says it is “the first day in the past five that firefighters have started to feel more comfortable.” Though the fire threatened ranches in the east fork of Maria Ygnacio Creek and spot fires still burned near Painted Cave, Ford says the San Marcos Trout Club seems safe and the “fire on the west side of Highway 154 is mostly out.”
10:50 a.m.: Meagher reports that evacuation orders are lifted for most properties below Foothill Road, and officials claim 30 percent containment. “We’re going from the defensive to the offensive,” says Santa Barbara City Fire Chief Andy DiMizio. “We’re going to chase the fire, not have the fire chase us.”
11 a.m.: After hand crews have been working for about a half-hour, Ford reports that the big Erickson Sky Cranes have begun their retardant drops. The air attacks allow the hand crews, including low-risk prisoners trained for the job, to do their magic. “This is the tough work on the fire lines, not as glamorous as the air drops from above, but absolutely essential to putting out the fire,” says Ford, explaining that this work will continue, “covering miles of fire perimeter such as this, cutting line in the worst of terrain, and making it possible for the time when 100-percent containment will be declared.”
6 p.m.: Bakersfield Californian’s Wenner reports that some of the more than 500 animals, from tortoises, chinchillas, and alpacas to songbirds, cats, and dogs, are beginning to return home from the emergency shelters at the Santa Barbara Humane Society and Earl Warren Showgrounds. “This is a great service,” says one pet owner, and another offers, “We will, of course, donate.”
Sunday, May 10
10 a.m.: Mandatory evacuations are lifted, except for most mountainous areas.
Noon: Red Cross closes Dos Pueblos High School shelter, but keeps UCSB facilities open.
9 p.m.: All evacuation orders are lifted. Residents are allowed to return home, except those living in the Painted Cave and East Camino Cielo communities, where the fire still smolders.
It wasn’t firefighters, but a group of six civilians who kept John Price’s sizable home at 1550 La Vista Road safe. The group-sweaty, dirty, and tired-headed down the hill on Thursday, packed in a white Chevy Blazer and in a gleeful mood, on their way to Chuck’s Steakhouse. The fire was “gnarly,” Price said, but the group was equipped with a water pump, and staved off the fire with a lot of hard work and sweat. The group of men, which also included plumber Pat Carroll, seemed to be having a good time, or at least were enjoying the result, and were laughing as they considered starting “John Price’s A Fire Team.” “Will work for beer,” Price said.
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Excellent summary - a keeper.
tabatha (anonymous profile)
May 14, 2009 at 5:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Should knowledgeable and prepared homeowners be allowed to stay in their homes and fight wildfire?
YES!!!!
I do understand why they evacuate the homeowners, they will fight to DEATH to save their homes.
I had watched the hopelessness of the Painted Cave Fire swollow most of the area up in its ravenous hunger for fuel as it swept down on the City of Santa Barbara, jumping HWY 101, killing a resident and leaving two feet worth of ash on the ground.
I watched the fire sate its hunger and rode, drove through the end results of that fire. This time, I stayed glued to my computer reading and watching all of the information regarding, "GAP", "TEA" and Jesusite Fires. I drove my co-workers here on the East Coast crazy with my melancholy addittude and lack-luster enthusiasm toward the beautiful days and relaxing breeze, For I had a heavy heart for my hometown being consumed in a flaming hell.
I commend those who stayed a fought tooth and nail to keep their homes safe and their neighbors too. Many people forget, just because your protecting your house doesn't mean it's safe if the house next to yours is ablaze. Fire leaps from house to house in a fire storm, drying the wetted roof of your house allows the fire to gain a foot hold to jumping to the next house and so forth.
I believe if the public is educated and practises what is learned, the next fire (yes, there is always going to be more) will be hit by the people faster and knocked down quicker. I can understand not having a Fire Bomber squadron at the SB Airport, it's just too small but having a plane or two on hand to react quickly to a burning could be the difference between a brush fire and a Disaster.
I hope that even with what has happened, new practices will be put into place for the next one.
Charles J. Rautio (dou4now)
[East Coaster].
dou4now (anonymous profile)
May 14, 2009 at 10:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
its a really crappy situation, but those pictures are priceless
shibalba (anonymous profile)
May 14, 2009 at 10:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you Indy, and Matt Kettmann as senior editor, for an outstanding job. We always want more, such as an up to the minute maps, such as a thermal image map. But what you gave us was more than enough. I stayed at the UCSB handicapped place, Thunderdome. The staff there was the greatest. Thanks for the new nickname, "Hef" for which I am grateful.
In other countries when we view the disaster videos, we see people being picked out of rubble. Here we get three hots and a cot. Thank you America.
Bird (anonymous profile)
May 15, 2009 at 12:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I track every Santa Barbara fire from Seattle, concerned that some day one will jump the freeway to the west where my sister still lives.
I worked for Barbara Lindemann many years ago and spent a day at their house on Tunnel Road. I'm not surprised they stayed and fought to save their home. I'm sure they began to prepare themselves for this eventuality the day they moved in.
My thanks to the Indy staff for the information.
turnleft (anonymous profile)
May 15, 2009 at 5:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The interesting thing in my opinion is the solution is not less fire but more fire. For far less than the $15 million cost of fighting this fire controlled burns could have prevented the whole problem of houses being threatened by wild fire in the first place.
Controlled burns can be conducted when the winds are going up the hills and are not as intense. We can even afford to burn a house or two that can't even survive a controlled burn for that $15m. Of course there is the problem of liability. Some controlled burns are going to go out of control and cause problems. However I don't think this problem is any more of a problem than the arsonists who set fires when conditions are at the worse for a fire.
I think people who have homes in areas that are subject to wildfire hazard should be responsible if their houses burn in control burns. If their house burns in a controlled burn whats going to happen in a wild fire? Besides, if fires are happening regularly people aren't going to be quite so complacent about keeping their property fire safe.
Laws have to be enacted to give immunity to people doing controlled burns. This immunity should also extend to homeowners doing burns around their property.
As I said at the start of this comment, the problem is not enough fire. If burning is done on a regular basses and it is something that is expected to happen every year the fuel load will not build up to threaten houses. Rather boring compared to a good fire storm, but certainly a lot less expensive.
FireEagle (anonymous profile)
May 15, 2009 at 8:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great reporting by the Indy staff but unless we do more than sit around congratulating ourselves on having survived another fire and take a long hard look at the way these fires are being fought (heroic and dedicated though our firemen are), we are doomed to these disastrous cycles of fire forever, with many more homes being destroyed and lives disrupted - or worse. Now is the time to begin that discussion and change, while all this is fresh in our minds, having been so ably laid out for us by the Indy staff.
Justice (anonymous profile)
May 15, 2009 at 8:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The US Forest Service back in the late 70s or so did a study on the potential of creating a series of vertical fire breaks along prominent ridges extending from Camino Cielo to the foothills. The plan was to divide the front country mountains into around 7 or 8 blocks from Gaviota to Carpenteria. Each block would be burned about once every decade or so. There would never be more than one block a year burned. The burns would take place late in the fall under weather conditions that would allow for a cool burn. An Environmental Assessment was completed and easements for the fire breaks were acquired. But then Congress pulled the plug on implementation of the program. Perhaps now is the time to resurrect this program.
gaviotamilitia (anonymous profile)
May 15, 2009 at 9:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have been extremely impressed with the Indy's coverage of the Jesusita Fire. It has been such an important resource for those of us wanting 'up-to-the-minute' coverage. There is one item I've been dying to see covered though and that is the efforts of the City of Santa Barbara's Water Department. These local women and men have the thankless job of ensuring safe drinking water is delivered to the taps of nearly 100,000 SB residents every day, in all circumstances. The firefighters are heroes indeed, but the water shooting out of their hoses shouldn't be taken for granted. The water treatment facility staff literally came face to face with the fire and continued working to produce more than thirty million gallons of safe drinking water daily, a lot of which was being used to save homes and lives. In my mind they deserve the hero designation as much as anyone.
(Goleta Water District Water Treatment Plant staff should be mentioned as well. They experienced a face to face with the Gap Fire and showed the same selfless dedication.)
These folks are used to being taken for granted but in situations such as these it's important to recognize their efforts.
Thanks again for your excellent coverage
D_more (anonymous profile)
May 15, 2009 at 2:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm so glad the Lindemann's other donkey Angelina came back. As of the first reporting of this story, she hadn't returned, although a donkey had been spotted a ways away and it was suggested that it might be Angelina. I always knew the Lindemanns were very cool professors but to add to their accomplishments as neighborhood heroes only adds to their coolness factor!
I am so scared of fire that I would much rather get out of the way than stand and fight. Even some of the firefighters got overwhelmed and had to take refuge in their vehicles and in nearby homes last week and will have scars forever on their faces and upper bodies. In Riverside, 2006 - 5 firemen died in wildfires. If homeowners in these mountainous areas can be trained and ensure that there is no way they'll be in any danger then it might be okay to implement a program like that.
We should really investigate the controlled burn mentioned above but also extend the goat army beyond the Mission Canyon boundary into the hillsides! (Although if that attracts mountain lions, never mind! I'm scared of those, too!)
joanv (anonymous profile)
May 15, 2009 at 5:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Most threatening natural disaster ever? Really? What about the earthquake of 1925, or the Painted Cave Fire of 1990?
Kratatoa (anonymous profile)
May 17, 2009 at 10:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)