Santa Barbara Is Burning

November 14, 2008

I was planning to blog about Nick Swisher tonight (I had a twisted post all ready to go) when a huge wildfire broke out very close to my house here in California. Santa Ana winds gusting up to 70 mph are fueling the fire, which has destroyed hundreds of acres in a few short hours. My husband and I are packed and ready to to evacuate as soon as they tell us to. Not easy to figure out what to throw in the car and what to leave, not knowing if there will be a house to come back to. A close friend’s house has already burned to the ground.

For those who’ve never been through this – and I hope that’s most of you – this is one scary situation. I can see orange flames out my window as I write this (our power has been in and out), and the white ashes are pouring down everywhere, almost as if it’s snowing. The smell is horrendous.

There are helicopters overhead, but the winds are too fierce for them to drop water on the fire.  Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency.

If anybody’s reading this, hold a good thought for us. Baseball seems very trivial at the moment, but I can’t wait to get back to caring about it.

Written by mlblogsjaneheller Posted in Dailies Tagged with California, Santa Barbara, wildfire