Close shave
Posted By Russ Emerson on November 14, 2008 at 2:18 pm
The first thing I did when I woke up today was listen to a voicemail left by an old roommate from college and early career days, who was concerned about the fire in Santa Barbara, and was asking about my mom.
I called my mom for an update on the fire situation. Apparently, the winds took the fire away from her house; it didn’t get within a mile.
My brother’s home was a bit closer. As I understand it, the fire was within a few hundred yards, but my sister-in-law drove by the house this morning, and there’s no damage there. I heard on the radio last night that the fire department had staged a bunch of equipment on their street.
My sister-in-law (with my niece and nephew) relocated to her mother’s house; my brother is in Michigan on a business trip. He must be freaking out.
If you see a story on the news about the fire, you will hear references to celebrities and “multi-million dollar homes.” Sure, there are some of those, but I don’t quite think my brother’s place would count. There are plenty of folks of more modest circumstance who are losing their homes in this catastrophe.
The important thing, though, is that (as far as I know) no one has been killed, and very few people have been hurt.