This years local fire- Whittier

On July 8th a fire started right by camp Whittier, just a few miles down the 154 from us.  It was a HOT day and it didn't take long for it to blow up and get into some dinosaur brush that hadn't burned for at least 50+ years.
And so our exciting and mostly exhausting week began of being evacuated, going back and forth, escaping the smoke, ash & heat, and being evacuated again.
Luckily, my sister and her family were in town when it started and were staying with her in laws. There was room for us too, so we stayed for 2 nights with them in Goleta. When they left to go home to AZ I thought it was a good time to start staying at home again. I had been back and forth everyday to grab things and mostly to check on the neighbors animals that I was looking after while they were away camping. So I knew it wasn't a big issue to get home and back from town.

We had lots of visits from fire friends during the week. A forest service engine with some of our former neighbors. A SB city engine with 2 fire fighters we new super well. And a Montecito engine rolled in one day to check on us as well :) We felt loved and safe.

Here are some pictures from through out the week that I took of the hillside above us. There was a lot of action around our house for a while, but i'm glad they got a handle on it and it's over with.