Gap Fire - July 2, 2008 (Part I)

The Gap Fire started Tuesday, July 1st. Tom was at a Goleta City Council meeting and, during the meeting, the mayor announced that there was a "small" fire burning above Glen Annie Canyon. He called me and I then proceeded to look out the window... knowing our propensity for fires.

Here's the view of the fire as it was spreading. You can still see some blue sky... This is the hill right behind our house. These shots are taken from our driveway.



We figured all would be under control - hopefully - within a few hours. That night, we went to sleep, uneasy, not knowing whether we'd wake up to a much larger fire or news that the fire had been put out. During the night, we heard fire engines going by our house and saw the local KEYT reporter at the base of our street.

Well... we woke up on July 2nd and the fire was not out. Quite the opposite. It had grown and was getting bigger. Looking back on it, it's rather amusing. Tom went to work in the morning per usual while I worked from home with Cyanne. Then, we switched and I went into the office in the afternoon and I remember while driving on the 101, looking over and seeing dark, black clouds of smoke over the hills. Little did we know.

We evacuated July 2nd.
I started that afternoon moving 'valuables' and important documents into our 4Runner. I grabbed financial papers, Cyanne's documents, photos, negatives/cd's, our wedding album and DVD... It was so surreal looking around thinking well, we might have to leave and if we do, what do I grab? What is irreplaceable?

Our friends the Secords arrived that afternoon to help us evacuate. They knew me well enough to know that even though I said "no, um, I think we're okay" that we'd need help. And lots of it.
We ended up filling five cars with our belongings. We grabbed china, crystal, silver, clothes (must save those cashmere sweaters, scarves, and special purses! Not to mention perfume and jewelry! =)...), photos, maps, special books, my thesis from Middlebury, all sorts of things we decided we needed.

Mary kept saying we should leave and eventually - she said "Kristen, we need to get the baby out of here. The air is too bad." So, she took Cyanne to her house and we kept packing up. Then Dan left, then Jenny - cars full. Tom and I were left, knowing we had to leave as soon as possible but wanting to grab anything we could think of...

These are photos taken that afternoon and evening right before we drove away. Had there been no fire, the skies would've been clear blue. The color was incredible. As we kept saying over the next few days, the only word that seemed appropriate was 'Armageddon.' Never have I experienced anything like this.

The view from our front driveway looking back towards the hills. That's Tom standing at the base of our driveway, looking at the hills and smoke.



The view back towards our house - from our neighbor's home across Cathedral Oaks Road.
At this point, the ash was horrendous. It was coming down in pieces about the size of a dime or slightly smaller. I was running back and forth between the house and cars loading stuff while trying to cover my mouth with my shirt sleeve. It was crazy.



If you look closely (this is where I was wishing I had a zoom lens), you can see flames on the hills behind our house. That is Glen Annie Canyon. For those of you who have stayed with us, we walk Lucky up Glen Annie...



Tom and the view looking back towards our house from our neighbor's house across the street.



This was right before we evacuated... I am not even sure what we were thinking at the time. We went to say good-bye to our neighbors who were also packing and to let them know we were leaving.



The fire proved quite a draw for people. Cars were stopped all along Cathedral Oaks. This was before the fire and police department completely closed the road to all but emergency access vehicles.



More cars and even bicyclists stopped to look at the fire on the hillside.



Tom walked to the intersection near our house. This is the shot looking back towards our house on the hill.



View of more flames. And to think - this was just the beginning...



This was my attempt (hard to drive and do manual focus properly) - while driving away from our house - to take photos of the flames. These do not do it justice. It was eerie, frightening, and overwhelming.





The sky was this incredible, ominous dark orange color.



Driving away from the house - the juxtaposition of the orchards of citrus trees, the sun, and the orange glow from the flames on the hills behind those in this photo.



I did not return to the house after I took these photos - until after we returned from our trip to the East Coast. Tom went the following day (7/3) to remove more of our possessions but this was my last drive down Cathedral Oaks not knowing whether we'd return to our house to see it standing - or burnt to the ground. Honestly, I was pretty sure it would be the latter, seeing how the fire was advancing the oppressive amounts of ash and hot air that we were feeling. It was an experience unlike any other and I hope never to experience it again.