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Residents return to find homes' fate
Residents confront their losses
Photo by Joseph A. Garcia
Sandy Grossman of Camarillo looks at the remains of the Sycamore Canyon Road home of her uncle Robert Drucker, 82.
Photo by Joseph A. Garcia
Dwayne DeVries of Santa Barbara on Saturday pauses in the remains of a garage and carport belonging to his friend Mike Ziemba, whose house survived the Tea fire. Many people returned to the area Saturday to see if their homes were standing.
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The statue of the armless Venus de Milo stood in a pile of rubble on a hillside outside Montecito. It was nearly all that was left of Michael Andrews' rented home.
The 44-year-old theater director took in the devastation. He hugged a relative. Then he began kicking carefully at piles of burned debris.
"Here's Grandma's silver," he said.
Two days after a wildfire tore through the hills of Montecito and Santa Barbara, some residents hiked into evacuated areas Saturday for their first glimpse of the devastation.
The official tally is at least 210 homes destroyed or significantly damaged. As of Saturday night, California Department of Forestry reported the fire burned 1,940 acres. The fire was 60 percent contained, and most of what remained was in remote canyons. Officials said they felt confident about their control over the fire, noting that calm winds helped immensely Friday and Saturday.
Some 15,000 people were evacuated, and about 2,000 were allowed to return Saturday in areas threatened but not burned by the fire. Officials said people likely wouldn't be allowed back into the burned areas for two to three days in efforts to assure their safety and also to allow for building inspections.
Some residents were determined to see if their homes survived. They trudged up hills or found other ways into charred canyons. They saw a checkerboard of devastation, with one home untouched and the one next to it destroyed so only the chimney remained.
'This is so random'
Some of the homes were huge — one with a swimming pool and a burned-to-a-crisp Porsche in the driveway. Others were tiny and owned by people of moderate or low incomes.
"This is so random," Andrews said of the fire, "so capricious."
His mother-in-law's home outside Montecito was gone — burned to the foundation, parts of it still smoldering. He stood in the rubble, noting how rooms that were once large now seemed so small. He called on a cell phone to relay the devastation.
"It's a total loss," he said at the end of one message. "Love you guys."
Andrews is executive artistic director of the Boxtales Theatre Company. Just about a week ago he, his wife and their 3-year-old son moved into their rented home not far from his mother-in-law.
Now the home is gone and so is everything in it, except what Andrews managed to save in 45 minutes of frantic packing Thursday night.
He's been through it before, having lost all he owned in the Painted Cave fire in the Santa Barbara area in 1990. He thinks that experience will help him this time. He worries more about his mother-in-law and his wife.
On one level, all that is lost is merely stuff, Andrews said.
"On another level, it's stuff you've associated yourself with your whole life. It's your identity," he said.
The smoking graveyards of burned homes triggered different reactions.
Gudrun Bortman, Andrews' mother-in-law, grabbed a teddy bear rescued from her home and cried.
"It hasn't really sunk in," she said later. "I need to stand in the ashes."
Alexandra Cole's home was reduced to rubble, too. But she was focused on a trip to India that begins today. When she returned to her home to retrieve prized possessions Thursday, she grabbed her suitcase and airplane tickets.
She stood at what remained of her house Saturday and talked about feeling waves of sadness, particularly over pieces of art that were gone, too. But she feels something else: relief.
"Now I don't own anything," she said. "There's nothing to take care of, nothing to clean."
Robert Carbonaro knew that his home in the hills had been saved because he could see it. But on Saturday, he visited just to make sure that everything was intact.
Melody Schloss was one of a long line of people who drove toward the burn area in the afternoon but were turned back by sheriff's deputies. The preschool teacher knows that her home survived but worries about her cat, Fletcher.
"We got one of the cats, but the other one wouldn't come," she said.
Devastation complete
Sandy Grossman of Camarillo walked along Sycamore Canyon Road, determined to see if her 82-year-old uncle's home survived. Robert Drucker, a retired architect, has lived since 1964 in a small home atop a hillside that offers spectacular ocean views.
"It was one of the most beautiful spots on Earth," Grossman said.
And it was gone, the devastation so complete that Grossman's hands shook as she took a picture of it. She worried about how to tell him.
But he seemed to take it OK, talking about maybe moving a trailer to where his house was.
"I'm an older person," he said, "so I guess I can take it a little easier."
— Star staff writer Scott Hadly contributed to this report.
Posted by AnnaWhaat on November 16, 2008 at 5:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So so sad. My Sincere Condolences!!!
Posted by US_Citizen on November 16, 2008 at 8 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is so sad. I hope the weather will hold out long enough for the firefighters to get a handle on all the fires in SoCal. God Bless our firefighters!
Posted by lrgvanman on November 16, 2008 at 10:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Posted by svwl on November 16, 2008 at 10:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Such fires are especially difficult for the extremely rich. My heart really goes out to them. When the things you own make up your identity, it must be difficult to lose them.
This is a modern day tragedy. I'm glad my statue of the Venus de Milo is still intact. I don't know what I would do if she was gone.
Posted by lrgvanman on November 16, 2008 at 11:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The previous comment/posting is just an alert because this article has not been covered by the Star yet and this is not meant to violate any terms set forth by the Star, merely to alert. I am sincerely sorry for all these losses and hope for much better days to come.
Posted by ibeam on November 16, 2008 at 11:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Some current, updated maps would probably get lots of eyeballs for your advertisers since there's such a dearth of information about just where the fires are burning and where they might head.
Posted by sparks240 on November 16, 2008 at 11:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
svwl: Backhanded sympathy does not hide your contempt.
Posted by Jacksprat on November 16, 2008 at noon (Suggest removal)
Let us say a big thank you to the fire fighters, they may not have been able to save your house, but they were their putting their life in danger trying to do it. But they just could not fight mother nature, she beat them. But we still need to gave the brave people a big THANK YOU.
Posted by TOaksResidence on November 16, 2008 at 1:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As I watch the news and listen to the reporters ask questions at the press conferences, I have to ask myself what school of "Stupid" did they graduate from? Maybe 1 out of 20 questions asked has any merit. I can see the frustration coming from the FD and PD for answering the same question over and over in the same conference and most of these questions are answers that cannot be answered.
It seems that most of the field reporters today are no longer professional journalists. Today they all seem to be of lower tabloid quality at best. How embarrassing.
Posted by svwl on November 16, 2008 at 7:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I thought it was more sarcasm than backhanded sympathy, but I'm happy that you picked up on my contempt.
Let me clarify it: We are in an incredible budget crunch, billions of dollars being taken away from where we need it, but we spare no expense when it comes to saving people's property. No money for education, but we will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars per day to protect people's Greek rip-off statues from the house of theirs that is burning because they built it to close to a forest.
I'm sorry for the people experiencing pain, but they are experiencing pain because they now have to do without junk that they didn't need anyway.
That's contempt.
Posted by Comments on November 16, 2008 at 9:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
svwl - you are a bitter, bitter person. I wasn't going to take your bait initially, but in the end I just couldn't let your heartless comments go unanswered - even if you are just a troll.
The next time you're in a car accident, we'll tell the emergency responders to leave you where you are so as to save us all some money during this incredible budget crunch. After all, we can't have our emergency personnel going to accidents to extract the likes of you.
If your house is ever in need of fire fighters (for whatever reason), we'll tell them to bypass you and let it burn to the ground since you are so budget conscious and would rather they not spend the money helping you save your things.
If you're ever robbed, or the victim or a crime of any sort, we'll instruct the police to ignore you because we're in a terrible budget crunch after all. We have more important things to focus on then poor little old you.
I feel so sorry for everyone (rich and poor) who have been effected by these fires. What tragedies all around. And, I'm so very grateful that we do have the amazing fire fighting force that we do have and am so thankful for every structure I see them fighting to save.
No, our "stuff" doesn't make us who we are. But, let's face it, our things (especially historical family things) provide lots of comfort. I have just finished packing up and dispersing of my mother in law's things from her home (she recently passed away) and it was so hard letting some of the things go. And, it's often the littlest things of no value that are the hardest to lose. I can still her drinking coffee from a particular mug. The pictures and books alone were hard to go through, but also incredibly comforting to her children. How awful it would be not to have those tokens.
Many heartfelt hugs to all the families who have lost during these fires.
Posted by svwl on November 16, 2008 at 9:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
1. About the car accident, I believe that my medical insurance and auto insurance will pay for the emergency responders if need be. I have used an ambulance before and its not cheap. If I didn't have insurance I guarantee the governator wouldn't bail me out.
2. I rent my house. If it burns down, it will be more of my landlord's concern. I feel confident that I'd be able to get my valuables out of the house in one car load, if need be.
3. I pay taxes for the police to protect my property. For the little that I have ever used their services in the past, I think I'm due some assistance on their part.
4. Our fire fighting force is amazing, probably the best in the world. I feel sorry for the pain that people have experienced from these fires. I feel even sorrier, however, that the pain could have been avoided if people didn't identify themselves by the cargo that they gathered.
5. It's a shame about your mother-in-law. I hope she rests in peace. I'm sure that your family is getting more solace in the remembrances of her that emerge from the tokens that she left behind than from the tokens themselves. One could argue that you would still be able to share such memories of her without having the concrete items in front of you to jog your memories.
6. Please define 'troll' for me. Either I'm not using it the right way or you aren't.
Posted by thsomerville on November 16, 2008 at 10:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
svwl:
You ought to rethink your behavior and words. What are you accomplishing by your words other than hurting people? What a miserable way to live a life.
Posted by SpartanFan on November 16, 2008 at 11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
svwl--After experiencing my father's house fire I can say first hand it is more than you think it is. My dad is not a rich man but a homeowner who worked hard for years to acheive it. It was his. Loss of sentimental items are hard to loose. The old car he had held on to, he collected parts for it and stored them in his garage for his retirement project and treat. GONE You know I could write book about the experience. It was bad. No clothes, no home, all the burned paper work and records, family photos etc etc. Let's just say...dealing with insurance companies are not a day in the park. He had to fight to get what he could from them. You know you have to prove that had the things you did. IT HAS CHANGED HIS LIFE and SUCKED AWAY MANY YEARS. You know when a house burns down, you still have to pay the mortgage. Not the same if your a renter. Oh yeah, and try to put your life back together, deal with the formalities and business end, deal with ins. company and still have to work fulltime. You are thought less in your comment.
Posted by SpartanFan on November 16, 2008 at 11:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I would offer my sympothy to those who have lost there home. BUT, they probably don't have a computer anymore and they certainly do not have the time to read these things if they do and won't for a very long time.
Posted by svwl on November 17, 2008 at 7:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Many people work hard to collect good things for themselves and their families. Unfortunately, after gathering those things, they need to devote even more time to holding onto those things.
Hence, we have the truly sad story above about the father "loosing" his home. But he didn't break "loose" of his home at all, it still held onto him. The house was a mark of his hard work. But, it was a mark of his hard work that wasn't sustainable. That people define their existence in the things that they own is the true tragedy of this whole affair.
All sympathy to the homeowners. Hopefully you will find solace one day.
Posted by windeecity on November 17, 2008 at 10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
SVWL -
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community,
such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion
Posted by freaknnuts on November 17, 2008 at 12:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
SVWL
Unfortunately, you feel you have to put others down to think so highly of yourself. You come across as a heartless woman. Enough with your comments. Shame on you!
Posted by svwl on November 17, 2008 at 5:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's clear that no one on this page is capable of a constructive debate without falling back into name calling. So, I'll leave you with one point. Incidents like this will keep repeating themselves until we realize that the people whose houses burned down had a LARGE role to play in their houses burning down.
No amount of cliched condolences will change that fact.
Your humble troll.
Posted by imbetnonit on November 17, 2008 at 8:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow, you sound very bitter. Did you miss your daytime soap operas because of the extended news coverage of the tragic fires?
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