This was our fourth major fire in our area in the last 2 years; three in the last 12 months.
All were man made although none was intentional. You put a person in the woods, make
sure the surrounding brush is bone dry, add a 30 to 40 mph dry wind from the desert,
and somehow create a spark - instant forest fire!

The fire was first noticed on Tuesday May 5 at 1:40pm. Within 3 hours, 150 acres had burned
and 70 fire engines, 200 fire fighters, and 2 helicopters were fighting the fire. By 7:30pm,
1000 people had been evacuated and 1200 homes had been informed of a mandatory
evacuation order. The Jesusita fire was named after the hiking trail where it started.

The final statistics: 8,733 acres burned; 80 homes destroyed and 15 homes damaged; 79
outbuildings destroyed and 2 outbuildings damaged; 1 commercial property destroyed.
4100 firefighters involved, 29 firefighter injured, 428 engines, 15 helicopters,
5 air tankers, and 1 DC-10 fire-fighting plane. Current cost: $17 million.

To add to the fun, one fire crew came upon a 300-pound black bear fleeing from the fire and
there was a minor earthquake 30 miles away. This could make a bad grade-B movie.

This was not the largest of our recent fires nor was it the most destructive in terms of homes
burned but this fire had the potential with a change of wind to burn the city of Santa Barbara.
It could have been much worse.