SANTA  BARBARA  GAP  FIRE
July 1st, 2008

Photos: Rama C. Hoetzlein

* Last post below! (click here)
* New photos of Day 3 below! (click here)


First night. July 1st, 2008. 11 pm.
Fire started at 6pm.


Second day. July 2nd, 2008. 1 pm.


Second day. July 2nd, 2008. 4 pm.
Ominous fire clouds over Goleta . Taken from our back yard.


Second day. July 2nd, 2008. 4 pm.
Little white flakes descend on everything.


Second day. July 2nd, 2008. 4 pm.
A boy swings on a tree beneath dark smoke clouds.


Second day. July 2nd, 2008. 5 pm.
Very dark, red clouds over Goleta at dusk.


Second day. July 2nd, 2008. 5 pm.
Butterfly grove.


Second day. July 2nd, 2008. 6 pm.
Overlooking the ocean. Light southerly winds pushed the smoke cloud out over the ocean.
Scroll right for full image.


Second day. July 2nd, 2008. 6 pm.
Fire whirls.


Second evening. July 2nd, 2008. 8 pm.
Fire moves southwest and increases in intensity
with the evening winds.


Second evening. July 2nd, 2008. 8 pm.
Same location as previous image, but looking in opposite direction.


Second evening. July 2nd, 2008. 8 pm.
Fire intensifies. Huge swirls of fire are visible.
Power goes out at 7:45pm, and stays out until midnight.


Second evening. July 2nd, 2008. 8 pm.
As night approaches, people without power decide to get a better look.
People drive into the hills (west of restricted area) to take photos, while
firetrucks continue to battle the fire.


Second evening. July 2nd, 2008. 10 pm.
Fire continues to intensify and move down the mountain toward Goleta and the coast.
More cars show up. Fire crosses the nearest ridge.
At about this time, police arrive wearing goggles (flakes of ash irritate the eyes), and ask everyone to leave.


Second evening. July 2nd, 2008. 10 pm.
One last picture.
Fire illuminates the starry night sky.



Third day..


Third day. July 3rd, 2008. 2 pm.
Firefigters watch the fire while taking a short break.


Third day. July 3rd, 2008. 2 pm.
Panorama of the Santa Ynez Mountains on the third day of fire.
Compare to the 2nd photo above to see how far the fire has spread in just one day.

Third day. July 3rd, 2008. 2 pm.
Another panorama from Eagle Canyon Road. Scroll right to see full image.


Third night. July 3rd, 2008. 10 pm.
Power outage.. No streetlights. No house lights. No televisions.
The scene is illuminated only by the glow of the fire 3 miles away. (30 second exposure, and brightened).

Third night. July 3rd, 2008. 10 pm.
A man uses a flashlight to enter his car during the power outage.
The man, moving around, is not exposed in the image. But his flashlight exposes light to everywhere he searched in the car.


Third night. July 3rd, 2008. 10 pm.
Another image during the power outage. The moment power was restored, shouts of joy could be heard.


Third night. July 3rd, 2008. 10 pm.
An airplane lands at Santa Barbara airport. The dotted line is the blinking of the plane's landing lights.
Flecks of ash, captured using a flash, rain down on the town all night. (30 second exposure, with flash)


Third night. July 3rd, 2008. 10 pm.
The red glow of the fire fills the sky.
The single visible dot through the clouds is Jupiter, currently at its brightest.


Last post..

Third night. July 3rd, 2008. 10 pm.
Animated view of the fire, sped up roughly 10x times. Looking carefully you can see the
front edge of the fire advance through the trees. Note: This takes about 1 minute to load.

This animated shot was created from 38 still camera images taken every minute.
Since the camera cannot be positioned the same each time, I used photoshop to manually
align the frames, with the fire as a center. Thus, the fire is steady, and the edges of the picture jitter slightly.



Hope to take more pictures when I get back.

Since 11pm on July 2nd, 2008

To see more photos by this photographer. Click here.

Comments? Please post your comments and experiences on this weblog: http://sbfire.wordpress.com
or, just send me an e-mail at [email protected].

-Rama