Gap Fire Reaches Critical Stage

Ray, you're the best. The Indy had the best coverage of the Zaca fire and is doing an encore with the Gap fire. It's very refereshing. As of now, I don't believe that the fire has managed to crest across West Camino Cielo. It tried to from what I saw tonight, but they seemed to keep it in check. If it does get across, it will make the Zaca fire look like a dress rehearsal as it will run loose in the back country again while being active in the front country at the same time. The rest of tonight and tomorrow will be make or break time. Pray for ligh winds and cool temperatures!

From my roof top vantage point at Kellogg and CO Rd, I have a so-so view of the area north of Patterson from where it curves and crosses the E fork of San Jose Creek, to where it meets Cambridge.
From 1800 to 2100, the fire was burning moderately in chapperal as the east edge of the fire, pushed by NW->SE winds (judging from the smoke plume) moved from the W Fork of San Jose Ck to the E Fork drainage. Here at CO&K, we were feeling the on-shore flow of cool marine air.
2100 to 0000: We could now feel the sundowners, and our view of the flames became obscured. There were pretty mild most of the time, but one two ventures outside they were15 to 20 mph.
At 0130, the sundowners were gone, and by 0200 the wind plume was to the SW, giving us again a good view of the flames. While it's hard to tell in the dark, it seems to me:
a) the fire hasn't reached the homes at the top of Camino Manadero,
b) the fire progressed well along the ridge that runs NW/SE between the two forks of SJ Ck (above Camino Meleno?)
c) but there are some flames at such low elevation I wonder it's come down the W fork along Camino Rio Verde, or maybe it's just low on the flank of the ridge.
d) the west edge of the fire is still W of Old SMPass Rd. I can't see if it's crossed the E Fork.

The coverage is good, and very much needed.

One thing: Those of us who have lived in this area for decades have seen plenty of photos of arial tankers releasing retardant, fire trucks, fire fighters spraying water from hoses, and general smoke shots.

What we who live in the affected areas want and need are MAPS. _Detailed maps_, showing where the fire is now and in what direction(s) it is moving! Maps, which are updated hourly as the fire progresses. That's the priceless information which should be being supplied, not little inserts showing where SB is in California.

Inciweb is in the right direction, but awful slow and stodgy. SB Co. Fire website is a joke.

Perhaps there are a few of us who would combine to create such an info website?

Great reporting in the Indi. The other local *news* outlets are a great disappointment, as usual, especially the key gang.

This fire could turn out to be a serious blessing. It is burning in 50 year old brush that is dieing of old age. It needs to burn in order to rejuvenate. Being this early in fire season and after a fair rain year the fuel moisture is still quite high so many of the oak and other large trees will survive. So this may end up creating a great new fuel break behind Goleta. One point that must be made to the decision makers in the County and Goleta. The reason homes aren't burning is because there are few homes in the foothills. The green belt that protects Goleta must not be replaced by homes as is the case in Santa Barbara, Montecito, Carpenteria, and the San Marcos Pass area where thousands of homes have burnt over the years

And this is a great reminder to the County that it should not allow 70 or 80 mansions to be built on Dos Pueblos Ranch in the foothills near the brush. These would be the Mansions Orange County developer Matt Osgood first proposed to be built along the 101 on the old Naples site. He now wants them back in the foothills out of public views (and controversy) from the freeway. No way Osgood. This fire just toasted your plans.

As of 7am on the 4th the fire hasn't gone through the west camino cielo community. Our house situated on the north east edge of windermere looks fine on our webcam. Wind there is ~14mph out of the NW. Winds have been 100% steady out of the NW for the past few days, turning slightly more westwards on the 3rd. Winds the past night have been much stronger than on previous nights where they pretty much came to a rest. Not so the last night with a min ~10mph.
Ray, please keep up the excellent coverage. The twitter is an excellent idea! Maybe you want to also have a way for readers to send you info directly? Like photos and other observations?

Thanks Independent for providing as detailed coverage as you have been! It's not easy to do considering how the fire department is so busy scrambling to keep up with everything. It is obvious that they are having trouble determining exactly what could happen with this fire.

As residents we are all concerned. The painted cave fire taught us that we are NOT immune to a wildfire coming into town. I have yet to see a place where residents can volunteer to help. It would be great if there was some type of information about this, it would make a lot of homeowners feel better if they could participate in protecting their homes and the city. Even if it's just providing aid to the fire fighters who are probably very tired or if it is involved as helping to clear brush from at risk areas, citizens would like to help.

I agree with SamRedDog that we could use a more detailed map. There are maps here and at the News Press (but News Press won't let you read the whole story unless you subscribe!!!) but the detail is not quite good enough. We're all nervous and having even more info would help us to be informed!

Thank you for what you are doing and I hope that you can further communicate with us on these areas of concern.

Ray, keep up the great reporting. I am from Santa Barbara and spent my first summer of fire fighting on the Los Prietos Hot Shots in 1970. We lucked out that year on a fire off West Camino Cielo in almost the same spot. That time we were able to stop it the same day, using an old fire line from the Refugio Fire. I am still fighting fires, but in Idaho now. I have family in Gap Fire area and thanks to your reporting I have a better idea of the status and situation. Also, your photos are great--depicting not only the awesome power of the flames, but the terrain, the people, the weather, and the equipment. Together they show more of the real story then alot of other photos that show just the 'glamour'.

can someone describe using local roads, the south perimeter of the fire? i live in SF, and trying to get an idea of the southern/eastern extent. Grew up off Kellogg Ave, and still have parents and friends with homes in the area!

Re: volunteering -- I did hear Janet Stanley of the Red Cross say on the radio yesterday that people who are interested in volunteering could call the Red Cross.

That 1955 fire scared the bejeebers out of us. All that building north of Cat Oaks is really dangerous! We all knew, but we knew the folks who made money subdividing their ranches and were happy they retired on the proceeds too.

Rancho Embarcadero - flames visible, look like they are half mile away. Over 200 homes in this canyon, many above 2 or 3 mill...This could be devastating

Thank you for the great coverage, the Indy and Ray Ford should be commended for proving us with some real information. The ability to get real updates from other news sources is dismal. KTMS means well, but hearsay calls from listeners with misinformation don't help anyone, and tuning in to get desperately needed info this morning and getting a Dennis Miller talk show is ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC!!!!! We need to have an OFFICIAL local source to go to for updates and real news. We need more, our community deserves better, as this is a life and death issue. We packed our car up last night and were extremely frustrated because we could not find out any information on whether to leave our home. Please, if any County officials are reading this, get a hotline number going that is updated hourly, or a better website with a live GIS map as another person suggested. Thanks.

Can someone tell me exactly where Hidden Village is?

Thanks

PS
Great reporting.

If anyone would like a comfortable mask you can wear all day, check out www.thedus-t.com or go by Channel City Lumber, Goleta Building Materials, Newtons Building Supply, all in Goleta. Theres also Bedrock in Santa Barbara, ask for the DUS-T, you won't be sorry. ICHANGE inc. in Goleta is a local company also affected by the fire and wishes everyone a safe 4th of July, if money is a problem call 1-866-968-4212 and ask for Steve, we would like to help out.
SB

We lost our house on the Riviera in the Sycamore Canyon fire. Truth is "all" the hills here are fire traps. Don't stay too long, we did and barely got out with the clothes on our back. Pray for rain.

darrenin2008, if you zoom in on the map Ray created, you can see the road names in the area south of the fire perimeter. Perimeter is well north of Cathedral Oaks road, and west of Old San Marcos Road, west of San Jose Creek and its canyon. Zoom in on the map, and keep coming back to the Independent for updates on the map. The closest the fire is to houses around Kellogg is in the area north of where Patterson Ave makes a dogleg to the west--Camino Rio Verde, Camino Manadero, that area.

The other sources and maps available so far have been pathetic in comparison to Ray and the Independent. Inciweb doesn't even have a perimeter map up yet. Continuing kudos to the Independent and to Ray.

Azores--Hidden Valley, not village. It's on the west/south side of 154 upstream from the Trout Club about 1/2 mile.

A nice map is available at: http://www.geomac.gov/ It takes some clicking around (Indy used to publish these maps during Zaca fire): -> Wildfire Mapping , wait a bit for it to load, -> Gap fire, again wait. If it doesn't work (it didn't for me), click on the green triangle for Gap fire and keep on zooming in until you can see the outline of the fire. INDY: could you please publish them again?
Thanks a lot.