Santa Barbara Fire Update

Santa Barbara Fire Update

Ralph Nobbe

5/8/2009

Hello Listserve members and friends.

I appreciate all the offers of help and support I have received from
numerous friends and colleagues.
By know most of you are aware that Santa Barbara is besieged by another
wildfire named the Jesusita fire.

As of 4:00pm PST Friday 05/08/2009 Nobbe Orthopedics Santa Barbara
office remains under mandatory evacuation orders. This order has been in
place since Wednesday at approximately 2:00pm. The fire began late
Tuesday afternoon. At present our main office appears to be out of
imminent danger but is still considered at risk. We have homes destroyed
within .5 miles of our office and less than .25 miles from my parents
home but no active burn areas going into Friday night in the immediate
vicinity of either.

Four Nobbe Orthopedics employees and their families are under evacuation
with friends and family. My parents (now in their late 70's) have been
evacuated twice in the past eight months due to fire. We all have
several immediate friends that have lost homes in both the last and
current fires.

The Jesusita fire has now burned approximately 3500 acres, and the
counting continues, in very rugged terrain and dense underbrush. This
firestorm is fueled by extremely high winds averaging 20-30 mph
sustained and gusts in 45-60 mph ranges on the peaks. This wind
phenomena occurs during certain (current) conditions. They are refered
to as Santa Ana's and the more severe current sundowners. These occur
later in the day, and today is proving no exception. More of the same
weather pattern is projected through Saturday and into Sunday.

This fire follows on the heels of the Tea fire six months ago which
destroyed 200 homes, the Gap fire 12 months ago and the Zaca fire
two years ago. The path of the current Jesusita fire has now merged into
both the Gap and Tea fire boundaries with little effective slowing
as hoped.

Currently, approximately 31000 people are impacted by evacuation orders.
(The city of Santa Barbara's population is approximately 105000) All
south coast area hotels are full or nearly so. All have discounted their
rates and are accepting small animals as well. Shelters have been
established at several locations and are all full or nearly so.
Geographically the evacuation order encompasses approximately 45% of
Santa Barbara city limits. Most residents have responded promptly and
with efficiency. The Sheriffs department issued in excess of 100000
reverse 911 calls to notify residents. Unfortunately, there are
always the few idiot lookyloos and other such morons that insist upon
reentering evacuated areas and must then be rescued - this fire has been
no exception.

Several shelters are overflowing with horses and other agricultural
livestock. The Humane Society continues to accept animals. This region
happens to be extensively agricultural.

Firefighters, police and sheriffs, have responded with unfortunate but
welcome, practiced, efficiency. There are now 240 +/- fire trucks, 65
strike teams, 15 helicopters, one DC10 and several spotter aircraft.
This represents approximately 2300 individuals direclty involved in
fighting the fires. High, volatile winds and remote, rugged terrain
continues to hamper their efforts.

The local Red Cross chapter headquarters has been relocated due to the
evacuation requirement. It is located two blocks from our Santa Barbara
office. Their resources have been severely strained both financially and
physically through available staff. They have been instrumental in this
and all recent fire events and are a vital resource for any disaster
recovery.

Any assistance you can provide should be directed to your local chapter
of the Red Cross and can be directed to Santa Barbara Chapter. I would
also suggest you take that opportunity to acquaint yourselves with this
invaluable resource. They can provide assistance with your own disaster
response contingency planning - which I strongly urge you to review.

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.