Posted on July 6 at 10:47 p.m.

One more thing. Randy, I just read your post and yes, I do remember the Huttenback kitchen debacle, Michael Huffington's illegal nanny and my first introduction to a very huffy Arianna ... thanks for the memories. Congrats to you and Nick Welsh for such a track record.

On Hope Springs Again at Sunday Night’s Gap Fire Briefing

Posted on July 6 at 10:24 p.m.

I have to emphasize just how much I agree with all of you here. I lived in Santa Barbara during the 1990 Painted Cave fire. I worked at the Daily Nexus at the time, and was there all night working in pasteup supporting a really stellar team of reporters. At sunrise, we fetched the keys to Storke Tower and went to the top to see what we could see, and I will never forget the eerie scene that met our eyes and the breathtaking way that fire wiped out 600 homes in 90 minutes and jumped all 6 lanes of the 101.

So I've been following the Gap fire with interest, trying to find whatever info I can online, and I've been rather stunned to see how miserable the coverage has been with the sole exception of the Independent. The News-Press site won't let me read their stories without paying? So 1999. Thousands of people are evacuated and all that's on TV is soaps? In 1990, KTYD immediately went to emergency broadcast system. TV coverage was non-stop. This is NOT Kalamazoo, Michigan here. This community has had better and deserves better. Santa Barbara is a big market in a serious fire emergency. Congratulations to the Santa Barbara Independent for actually reporting on this story and possibly saving lives but at the very least providing peace and sanity to many thousands of people up there who would otherwise be completely lacking.

On Hope Springs Again at Sunday Night’s Gap Fire Briefing