A Long Beach Fire Department strike team first sent to fight the Jesusita Fire on Tuesday continued to battle the raging blazes in the region Thursday, saving the world-renown Santa Barbara Botanic Garden from total destruction.The team, which is working with six other teams deployed from Los Angeles and Ventura counties, was deployed to the Mission Canyon area early Thursday for a 12-hour shift hampered by the danger of fighting fires in 60 mph winds, in areas filled with high-fire danger fuels and while dodging downed power lines that left live electrical lines lying across roadways, said Battalion Chief Frank Hayes.
The gardens and its four buildings were hit by a heavy firestorm fanned by the erratic winds, Hayes said.
All of the structures were saved, expect for a 30-square-foot wooden deck, prompting the caretaker of the gardens to express his gratitude to all the firefighters working in the area.
The caretaker's home, located across the canyon, was destroyed along with a number of other homes and structures. Mandatory evacuations are in place and the fire took a heavy toll on fire crews after flames overtook a Ventura County Fire crew, leaving three firefighters seriously injured with burns and smoke inhalation.
Anticipating a repeat performance of yesterday afternoon's explosion of wind and flame, Jesusita Fire incident commanders have doubled the number of helicopters they're sending into the fray, tripled the number of fixed-wing aerial tankers, and increased the number of firefighters by 400. That brings the number of planes to 12, the number of helicopters to 10, and the total number of firefighters to 1,394--up from the previous high of 850 firefighters on Wednesday, May 6.
The fire's size was estimated to be 1,300 acres as of early Thursday morning, May 7 -- with zero containment.
With temperatures soaring Thursday, and more expected Friday, authorities were girding for further losses and considering switching the 12-hour deployments to 24-hour sessions, Santa Barbara fire authorities said.
I want to personally thanks all of the firefighters for saving what they could at the Botanic Garden in Santa Barbara.
I work at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in the Research/Herbarium building (nestled between the Library and the Cottage). When the fire started up the canyon on Tuesday afternoon, smoke was reported at 1:50 PM, staff went on alert. A few of us acted with quick determination to safeguard our valuable collections in the Herbarium vault. Within minutes, about 12 remaining SBBG staff activated our fire response plan (we have fire drills avery few months) we literally ran every trail and personally escorted all of our visitors to a safe evacuation point. Once we had swept the Garden and secured the premises the best we could, we had to leave.
I never dreamed that the next day would see such a brave and noble fight to save our beloved Garden.
Once again, Thank you!!!!!
I want to personally thanks all of the firefighters for saving what they could at the Botanic Garden in Santa Barbara.
I work at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in the Research/Herbarium building (nestled between the Library and the Cottage). When the fire started up the canyon on Tuesday afternoon, smoke was reported at 1:50 PM, staff went on alert. A few of us acted with quick determination to safeguard our valuable collections in the Herbarium vault. Within minutes, about 12 remaining SBBG staff activated our fire response plan (we have fire drills avery few months) we literally ran every trail and personally escorted all of our visitors to a safe evacuation point. Once we had swept the Garden and secured the premises the best we could, we had to leave.
I never dreamed that the next day would see such a brave and noble fight to save our beloved Garden.
Once again, Thank you!!!!!
I want to personally thanks all of the firefighters for saving what they could at the Botanic Garden in Santa Barbara.
I work at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in the Research/Herbarium building (nestled between the Library and the Cottage). When the fire started up the canyon on Tuesday afternoon, smoke was reported at 1:50 PM, staff went on alert. A few of us acted with quick determination to safeguard our valuable collections in the Herbarium vault. Within minutes, about 12 remaining SBBG staff activated our fire response plan (we have fire drills avery few months) we literally ran every trail and personally escorted all of our visitors to a safe evacuation point. Once we had swept the Garden and secured the premises the best we could, we had to leave.
I never dreamed that the next day would see such a brave and noble fight to save our beloved Garden.
Once again, Thank you!!!!!