| Santa Barbara GAP Fire |
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We are here in the US and it has been an exciting week! Japan has its earthquakes. Santa Barbara has its fires during summer months. As part of the CRASH ministry with Grace Japan in Ome, we are accustomed to disasters and emergencies as part of daily life, but they usually aren't in our back yard! We have been blessed to be house sitting in Goleta as part of our first week in the area. We had been here a few days staying with some friends. We then moved to this home a few blocks away. it was the first day here in the house we are staying in now, when we saw the smoke pouring up on the side of the mountains. By nightfall, the fire had grown to over a 1000 acres and the sky became black with the thick smoke from the fire. The community was busy with neighbors checking on each other and discussing evacuation plans. Belinda and I drove up as close to the fire as we could to take the few pictures you can see in our gallery. After taking only a few images in the darkened neighborhood, the sheriff department drove by announcing that anyone remaining in the area would be arrested. Time to leave. On day two, the late afternoon became like a late night sky. We packed our things into the loaner van and decided to see how close the fire was to our location. We drove only two blocks towards the area and were ordered to turn back. We drove to the city and checked in on our family. They were completely safe yet you could see they were nervous as we watched the front of the blaze advance a quarter mile in a matter of about 5 min. Fortunately the winds turned in everyone's favor and the flames became stationary. Still the sky remained barely breathable. By day three, the fire had grown to over 6ooo acres. Over 1000 firefighters have been allocated to the fire fighting efforts. Over 150 fire units and dozens of helicopters and planes are joining the defenses. The weather is sunny and mostly clear but at lunch today, we could see at least a dozen areas still ablaze at the top of the mountain ridge behind the Goleta and Santa Barbara area. Best estimates are that the area is only under 15% containment. This figure of course is at best, a moving target. As I said before, Santa Barbara is unfortunately had to become very experienced at dealing with wild fires. We have been very impressed at the skill and nimbleness the responses of local and state agencies to this emergency. We are grateful that no reports of any damage to homes or loss of life have occurred. Please know that we are not in any danger, yet we remain on alert as conditions could change. We are thankful for you and your prayers for us, our family and the people of Santa Barbara. -John
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