Tony de Groot <<email>> writes:

We have a pretty big fire going in the Santa Barbara range just west across Hwy 154 from the Eliminator launch in Santa Barbara. It's raining ash on my house here in Goleta. It is also threatening to move toward some other pilots houses near Hwy 154 in the Trout Club. As long as it stays west of 154 and the winds stay down it should be o.k. There were supposed to be sun downer winds which would blow the fire toward the city but so far the really strong winds haven't materialized. Still, evacuations are taking place in some areas in the Goleta area near the base of the mountains. Flying has been poor in the mountains but with all this activity and planes zipping around we'll stay out of the air until it is over.

http://www.techbanyan.com/archives/458

Well, the winds have cranked up and there is so much smoke and ash at my house right now. Man am I tired of all these fires, and smoke and ash! Supposedly of the hundreds of fires in California (this was on the radio), this fire in Santa Barbara is #1 in priority because of it's location to city and houses.

Here is a link with some good pictures of the fire. These pictures are from yesterday before the winds kicked in. Now it's really hard to see because the winds which are 30 miles per hour at the moment are blowing smoke directly out toward the city of Goleta.

http://www.rchoetzlein.com/fire/