santa barbara fires

From the back of his home in the Santa Barbara foothills, Albert Lindemann and his wife said they watched the fire scorch the mountainside.
The couple, who have lived at their five-bedroom home for more than 40 years, said they chose to stay behind Wednesday night to defend their home from the Jesusita Fire by using a fire-blocking gel.
"We just thought we could defend ourselves," Lindemann said. "Our house didn't catch on fire. I think we did everything right."
Lindemann, a history professor at UC Santa Barbara, said two of his pet donkeys -- Pollyanna and Angelina -- fled their open corral when flames closed in on the Lindemanns' home, situated along Tunnel Road, just south of Holly Road.
Standing outside their home this morning, Lindemann fed grass to Pollyanna, who had returned.
"I don't see any burns on her," Lindemann said, checking the animal's coat. She "seems to be OK. Maybe a little water, I'll just stay right here and wait for her mother to come back, but I'm not hopeful."
Lindemann said the vegetation surrounding his home had been burned. He said he was worried about spot fires and his neighbor's home.
"I feel pretty safe now," Lindemann said. "It might come back and burn this area, but it won't be like that firestorm."
Bob Klein, inspecting his home at the end of Holly Road, said he and a few neighbors had stayed behind too. Firefighters this morning were still camped outside his house. Klein pointed to six goat carcasses scattered on the mountainside.
Goats that had been brought in earlier to clear out the brush were evacuated when flames swept through the area. Klein, however, was unsure whether those were the same goats.
"As far as I know, all the people up here got their animals out," he said, adding, "There will be hell to pay come winter -- mudslides. The erosion will be terrible."
Jim McMullin, 66, a retired contractor, has lived at his home along Holly Road for 23 years. The house, built out of redwood lumber, was not damaged when flames reached the back. McMullin used six hoses to put out spot fires Wednesday night.
"I beat the fire back several times but never like this, this was pretty damn spooky," McMullin said. "I would not do it again, It scared the hell out of me and you're talking to an ex-military motorcycle rider."
At least two homes not far from McMullin's had burned down.
"Nobody's house was saved unless they stayed and fought," McMullin said as embers floated in the air.
He said he had recently taken measures to reinforce the eaves and tiled his back deck.
"If I hadn't tiled the deck," McMullin said, "I would have lost the house."
McMullin said that at one point he attempted to leave, but the fire trucks had blocked the road.
"We saved the house, but this is going to be a nightmare for the next four years, all that construction for the road," McMullin said. "A lot of these roads are not legal anymore, so the people who rebuild will have to conform. It's going to bankrupt a lot of people; this road is just not going to have a lot of people on it."
"There's still hot spots and it's going to blow again, we're not out of the woods yet," McMullin said as firefighters mopped up an area where the Tea Fire had burned last year.