Firefighters Say: Stop Using Your Water
Morning Winds Die Down, Giving Crews Chance to Battle Blaze
Because water reserves are low, crews fighting the Tea Fire announced this morning that they want Santa Barbara residents to use as little water as possible. Turn off your lawn sprinklers and keep personal use to minimum.
The Tea Fire is being estimated now at 2,000 acres with no official estimate for containment.
Firefighters are attempting to make progress in battling the fire in the narrow window it has to make a dent while winds have died down, with only the occasional gust. Santa Ana-type winds are expected to kick up later this afternoon, however, and this could change the fire dramatically.
Santa Barbara residents and media outlets are doubtlessly waking up from a relatively sleepless night and wondering how the Tea Fire changed over the night. The Indy is awaiting any updates as to newly evacuated areas in the county. Independent.com will update as soon as it hears of any. In the meantime, this is an unofficial but still helpful map of the area around the Tea Fire that was last updated at 4:40 a.m. based on pooled information from various area media.
See the map yourself here.