Observations from the Jesusita Wildfire Evacuation Zone

As we took photographs of shoppers in Santa Barbara’s packed La Cumbre Plaza shopping mall this afternoon, we noticed that ashes speckling the air were making it increasingly difficult to see and breath. The unhealthy cloud of smoke descending on the small, affluent, coastal city should have alarmed the large mass of consumers or sent them home determined to help friends and neighbors or protect loved ones and family treasures. If they were at all alarmed, however, we didn’t see proof of it on their faces. When we left at around 4:30 PM in the afternoon, there was scarcely an empty parking space at the popular shopping destination as locals browsed the aisles at the video store, had a bite to eat at the tasty Fresco Cafe, or enjoyed a massage at the spa.

La Cumbre Parking Lot: Packed with Cars and Covered with Ash

What we saw at La Cumbre Plaza, was a sub-society that has delegated both responsibility and concern for the safety of their community and those they love to others. It’s a sight that is shocking in its contrast to the dramatic and inspiring photographs of firefighters who have traveled from all over the west coast to fight the fire. Likewise, it seems surreal in comparison to the reports we have read of other Santa Barbarans offering to lend their vehicles to strangers in order to help them move heirlooms and evacuate animals, volunteering at shelters, and opening their homes, hotels, and restaurants to firefighters and emergency workers free of charge.

It’s clear that for the subclass of consumerists at La Cumbre, if there was once a time when townspeople would rally together to ward off an invading army or defend their weakest against natural disaster, that time belongs to another era. We don’t know what would cause people to become so comfortable delegating such vital things to government experts and the winds of fate, but the lack of resistance and personal responsibility conjures up unfocused memories of some pulp-fiction radio show from the 1930s about mass mind control. If we didn’t know that Santa Barbara does not treat its water with flouride, we’d expect that it might be time to reexamine the old John Birch Society conspiracy theory about government putting flouride in the water as a calming agent to subdue society and eliminate resistance.

Don’t get us wrong, we would never want to see ordinary, untrained civilians loose their lives to battle back this fire. We acknowledge that well-intended help in some areas can be counter-productive. We understand and are encouraged by people’s efforts to water down their own homes before evacuating with their most precious treasures and pets packed safely for the journey to a safe haven, but at the same time, we implore all Santa Barbarans to take seriously the warnings and information from Cal Fire. It’s the calm and nonchalance of the mindlessly faithful in the middle of a storm that unnerves us. This isn’t because faith is bad, but because faith in other “official” human beings as if they could and inevitably will conquer any inconvenience or impossible threat is a frightening cousin of idolatry. We can’t shake the feeling that too much responsibility has been too easily delegated and that too much concern has been too easily replaced with unthinking trust.

Unfortunately, the startling lack of concern or responsibility in the response of some to the Jesusita wildfire is not unique. Today, we meet parents who no longer teach their children because education is some expert’s job at the school, architects who let local government planners tell them what the buildings they are tasked with designing should look like, and Christians who believe that the personal duty to charity can be extinguished by the taxes they are required to pay to support governmental programs designed by experts to assist the poor.

As Santa Barbara shops and burns and a Congress and President that have already racked up record deficits consider the need to spend more to further expand the role of government in people’s lives, it is worth pausing to ask how many more areas of their lives people will be all-too-willing to delegate to the state. Americans are not a cynical bunch, they frequently believe in the best intentions of government and some even assume that government people and public sector “experts” have better answers to questions of personal concern then they do. But, as government begins to take an increasingly active role in handling all the “important stuff” for people, we can’t help but wonder if the end result won’t be a people who, even in the face of 150-foot-tall flames, don’t feel the need or have the capacity to take responsibility for anything except the decision to buy the red bikini or the polka-dotted one.

We’ll update this page as information, photographs, and other coverage of Jesusita becomes available. Please do not rely on Daily Uprising as your exclusive source for information about the fire, safety, or changing evacuation zones. In addition to official government sources, we recommend searching for #jesusita OR #jesusitafire on twitter.com for additional updates and information from citizen observers.

Links to fire updates, information, and photos:

A Firefighter at Work on the Jesusita Fire

Maps:

Jesusita Fire Map (Google Map): Marked with time-stamped, color-coded information about new evacuations, old evacuations, road closures, school closures, etc.

Los Angeles Times Google Map of Jesusita Fire in Santa Barbara: Marked with information about evacuations, road closures, school closures, etc.

Jesusita Fire Approaches the City

Information:

If a “medically tragic” person in Santa Barbara needs to evacuate and doesn’t have transportation, call (805) 893-5001 and transportation can be arranged to that location according to the needs of the individual. Please do not call this number unless you need help evacuating!

County of Santa Barbara: Office of Emergency Services: Official County updates on the fire.

Cal Fire: State website dedicated to Cal Fire’s statistics and fire information.

JesusitaFire.org: A Non-Profit Community Resource – Compiles relevant information in one place with a Wiki entry.

Santa Barbara Red Cross: Red Cross is looking for volunteers to help people who have been evacuated.

KSBY: Foodbank of Santa Barbara Needs Your Help – They are asking for 50 volunteers to help put together emergency kits for Jesusita Fire evacuees. More details at the article link provided.

KEYT: A local television news channel providing updates.

KSBY: A local television news channel providing updates.

The Independent: local newspaper with great coverage of the fire.

The Independent: Jesusita Fire Bulletin Board: A place to post messages about fire information, offer to help, thank someone, etc.

Scan America, Santa Barbara: Listen to scans of Santa Barbara County Sheriff and Fire as well as Lompoc Police and Fire.

KTYD: Local radio rock station providing updates every 10 minutes.

Enplan Wildfire Viewer: Time-stamped map indicates where MODIS satellites have detected heat/fires.

Twitter: Combined real-time stream for hashtags #JesusitaFire and #Jesusita.

ABC Local: Live streaming video of fire.

Facebook: Santa Barbara Emergency Info: News updates, links, photos, etc.

Osum Blog: A blogger who has done a great job covering the Jesusita fire.

Doc Searls Weblog: A blogger with a map of MODIS satellite heat/fire detection.

Jesusita Fire in the Foothills

YouTube Videos:

More Photos:

Jesusita Fire in the Foothills, Approaching the City

UCSB Seniors Serve Homemade Cupcakes to Firefighters

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