The Gap Fire, Goleta

The hills are alive, not with the sound of music, but with the scary sight of flames. A wildfire called the "Gap Fire" broke out July 1 in the hills above my home in Goleta. The last news that evening was that it was perhaps on 5o acres; tonight the report is 350, but it's probably more like 500 acres - and growing.

In 1955 the Refugio Fire burned that area. I remember being a very small child and standing on our back porch with my parents at dusk, watching the flames creep downhill. Last night I had the same feeling. Unsettling. This time, I am the responsible adult, with no mommy and daddy to make me feel safe. Good thing my Heavenly Father takes care of me .

This has been an opportunity for me to consider just what I would save, were I to have to evacuate. There's no way I can move my presses and type, though I can perhaps manage to pack a few of the antique faces. But my focus must be on family heirlooms, photos, genealogy; financial, of course; computer; and cats. Oh, yes, and my favorite small sewing machine. All that will fit in the car. Clean underwear, too.... clothes are replaceable, but clean underwear! Wouldn't you? I mean! I have no problem wearing donated clothing or thrift store purchases, but underwear! Nope, that would not be me. I wants me own.

Kitty carriers are at the ready. Likewise cosmetics, prescriptions, and computer. If I gotta go, I gotta go. At least the gas tank is full.

Here are a couple of my attempts at photography of the Gap Fire: The first shot is July 1, from my back porch. It was a baby fire then. The white blob is a street light that got in the way.
Second: about 6:30 PM today, June 2, from the Goleta Library, looking into the hills nearby. Fire had expanded about 10 times its last night size. In that shot it may be about 3 miles away from the Library.
Shot three, taken looking across Fairview from the Library. The sun was an orange blob in a smoky orange/gray sky. The camera doesn't do it justice, except to emphasize how ominous a wildfire sky looks.
Shot four was taken at deep dusk from the street a block from my house. Flames are much lower down the mountain than they were last night. The tree you are looking through is a palm tree, silhouetted against the firelight. Distance seems to flatten the image, but the fire is still about 4 miles from that palm tree.

Finally, this shot was taken about 9 PM from the Fairview Avenue Overpass (101 Fwy). The fire is expanded, lower, and flaring 20 - 30 feet high. You can see the freeway below, the horizontal lights of the shopping center, and the ridge alive with fire above. This is not even the entire width of the fire, just what the camera could capture with incredibly low light.