Still not threatened

Caring mails and text messages from people far away lets us know that Santa Barbara has been mentioned as the northernmost county affected when news reporters speak of the recent fires here in California.

And it is true that a single fire did start in the mountains here, but was quickly contained and no new fires were reported in the area since that one. Santa Barbara county was primarily considered part of the emergency area due to a high risk of new fires - the high temperatures, the tinder dry plants and the low humidity being the reasons here.

But apart from news from the south (last week our previous housemate who relocated to San Diego was preparing to evacuate) we don't see much of the fires here in Goleta. On some days the sun light has been a little strange, and there has been small amounts of ashes in the air (but nowhere near as much as in August). Actually we could enjoy summerlike weather and warm nights for a couple of days, but that's over now.

Click on the map for a larger view.