A major local event in our lives during the summer of 2007 was the nearby Zaca fire
which burned for two months and consumed a quarter-million acres of forest. Due to the
dedicated work of over 2000 fire-fighting personal and the luck of no major wind in our
direction, we suffered nothing more than ash falling like snow and the amazement of
seeing a fire cloud reaching 35-thousand feet 25 miles in the distance.

This fire cost $115 million to fight and was accidentally started by two workers
at the Zaca Ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley. All charges have since been dropped.