The Thomas Fire and An Unintentional Journey
By Randolph Graham
Monday, December 4, 2017
We woke when the power went out Monday night. I looked out the kitchen window, and it was very dark. I looked out the front window, and it was very dark. I got dressed and ventured out front, standing in the middle of the street. It was very very dark even with the full moon. The power seemed to be out in the entire east end of the Ojai Valley. What I didn’t know at the time, was that power was out in the entire valley and a fire was burning in nearby Santa Paula.
Smelling a touch of smoke in the wind, I hurried inside to wake my wife, Robin. She was already up and asked, “What’s going on?” I asked her to get dressed then said, “The power is out all over. Something’s up but I’m not sure what.”
While Robin dressed I went to the Ojai Community Network page on Facebook. People were posting about the fire in Santa Paula. Posts said there were mandatory evacuation orders for parts of Santa Paula and the Upper Ojai Valley and that the fire had quickly expanded to 5,000 acres.
We walked out front where our neighbor was standing. He pointed out the orange glow over the ridge toward Santa Paula. “That’s not good,” he said. As the Santa Ana winds gusted through our neighborhood all I could do say was, “Whoa!” I’m not talking namby pamby winds, but wind blasts that were 30–45 mph and tinged with the smell of fire.
Williow
Robin and I hurried into the house, grabbed our bug out bag and our dog Willow. We put Willow, our daily meds, a large water jug, and a few family keepsakes in the car. We decided to get out of the valley and as we drove out, we called our son, Robert, to tell him we were coming to his house. I told him what was happening. His response was, “Dad, I know. We can see the fire on the ridge above our house. We’re packing stuff up now. Not safe at our house. We’ll meet you at the Chevron gas station on Thompson Street and go somewhere from there.”
As we approached the gas station, Robert called. “Dad, we are headed for Los Alamos. I have a couple of rooms at the Alamo Motel, and we can stay overnight for free. Take the Milpas Street exit in Santa Barbara so we can meet up.”
Twenty minutes later we took the exit and saw Robert’s car across the street. He flashed the car’s headlights on and off at us. We turned around and pulled up behind him. Robert said, “Follow us into Los Alamos.” Two hours later we pulled into the Alamo Motel, checked into our rooms, and quickly fell sleep.
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
We were soon to learn that the Thomas Fire had burned over 5,000 acres. After discussing the advantages of returning home, we decided to drive back to Ojai to grab a few more things including a clean change of clothes. We stopped about 10 miles south of Los Alamos at Anderson’s Pea Soup Inn for breakfast. Their “Traveler’s Breakfast” included a bowl of split pea soup. Nice touch.
We drove down the 101 to the 150. The first thing we noticed as we exited onto the 150 was the bumper-to-bumper line of cars exiting the valley and getting on the 101 north. The entire valley was under voluntary evacuation, but we didn’t know it at the time.
Our drive back to Ojai was uneventful. When we got home the first thing we noticed was the fire in the hills as we looked out our kitchen window to the south. The fire and the dense smoke were more than anticipated. We let Willow out to stretch her legs while we gathered a few personal items. We then put Willow in the car and headed back to the 150 and the queue of cars.
We had hoped to get a place to stay in Carpinteria, but there were no vacancies. None. Robin randomly called the Coast Village Inn in downtown Montecito, and to our surprise they not only had a room for us, they said they’d give it to us at a deeply discounted rate because of the Thomas Fire. We were relieved to find a safe and affordable place to stay for two nights.
After checking in, we showered, took Willow for a walk, and then took a short nap before driving to dinner at a pizza joint in Carpinteria. I wouldn’t say the pizza was as good as mine, but it wasn’t bad. And after a long, stressful day, the pizza and the beer tasted damn good.
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
On Wednesday morning, we drove back to Carpinteria to eat at Robin’s favorite breakfast spot: The Worker Bee Café. We needed a familiar, safe setting. We needed comfort food. We got both. What we hadn’t expected was to meet evacuees from Ojai. The couple at the table to our right had evacuated at the same time as we had. They implied that their house in the east end was in imminent danger. You could see the worry in their faces and hear the fear in their voices. They gave us hugs when they left and we wished them well.
After breakfast, we talked about things to keep us busy. I had attended UC Santa Barbara during the first two years of my undergraduate education and suggested that we go there for the day. Robin said, “I would love to see the campus. And I’m sure Willow would love getting out of the car for a few hours.” I eagerly drove past Montecito, as well as Santa Barbara, and took the Goleta exit to the campus.
We enjoyed a relaxing tour of the campus with Willow, then drove to nearby Goleta Beach Park. We gave Willow some water and left her in the car (with windows open) while we walked across the parking lot to a bench overlooking the ocean. I grabbed the leftover pizza from the previous night just in case we got hungry.
We sat on the bench, and Robin asked whether I had done any skin diving there. “My roommate, Joe, and I dove mostly off El Capitan beach but we did, one time, dive here,” I said. “I remember the ocean was very calm and the visibility was better than usual. By that I mean we could see maybe 8 or 10 feet. We parked very close to where we are parked now and changed into our wet suites. We carried our flippers, masks, and tanks down to the water.”
“What did you do in the water?”, Robin asked. “Well, we swam out to the kelp beds and had fun getting away for about 30 minutes. Being under the water was very peaceful. We had air left in our tanks and would have stayed longer, but Joe grabbed my arm and pointed to the sandy bottom. Six feet below us was a shark slowly skimming the bottom. He looked to be 12 feet long. Later on, Joe said the shark was probably only five or six feet at the most. Anyway, we swam to the surface and made our way quickly to the beach. “
Robin leaned against me, and we sat in silence enjoying the sound of the waves. It was exactly what we needed after three days on the lam. We drove back to Montecito and the Coast Village Inn where we relaxed before eating at the China Palace and then turning in for the night.
Thursday, December 7, 2017
The smell of smoke was the first thing I noticed when I woke. I took Willow for an early morning walk and noticed the rustle of the Santa Anna winds and the fire ash on the cars in the parking lot. So much for escaping the fire.
The Inn gave us discount tickets for the nearby Jeannine’s American Bakery Restaurant. We walked there and ate a nutritious breakfast of oatmeal, fresh fruit, orange juice, and fresh-baked scones. Over breakfast, we talked about driving south, through the fire that had leapt over the 101, and to find a motel in Ventura. After breakfast, we checked out of the inn, packed up, and left Montecito for cleaner air.
While I drove, Robin was on the phone calling every motel in Ventura and Oxnard. After 30 minutes of frustration, she came to the realization that there were no vacancies. The best we could do was to get on a waiting list for the night so we pushed on to Camarillo. The first place Robin called took our reservation for Thursday and Friday nights. Perhaps the best part was that they didn’t hassle us about Willow! And as a double bonus…the rooms cost less than $100 per night (Thomas Fire special rates) and included a continental breakfast (coffee, waffles, omelets, fruit, etc.).
Before checking in, we ate lunch at the Soup Plantation. If you are not familiar with this chain it offers a large salad bar, side dishes of pasta, pizza, rolls, muffins, desserts, and drinks at a reasonable price. Comfort food for sure. They said we could eat all the food we wanted for one low price. So we did and we ate a lot. After waddling out of the restaurant to our car (and to Willow) we drove to the motel and checked in. We settled in and then all three of us took a long, much needed nap. When we woke, Robin watched TV while I went to the store to find food for Willow. When I got back Robin said she was going to skip dinner so I found a Thai restaurant on Daily Road and ordered Pad Thai noodles to go.
Before going to bed, I took Willow out for one of her many walks. We walked around the Daze Inn and through a small retail center. As we approached the outside patio at Yolanda’s Mexican Café, I heard a jumble of voices mixed with frequent laughter. My initial reaction was one of mild anger. As Willow and I passed the patio I thought, How can they be so carefree? How can they laugh like that? Don’t they know there is a raging fire right now that threatens to change my family’s and my life forever?
I’m normally an easy-going person and am annoyingly optimistic. I laugh and smile a lot. When I heard the carefree sounds of the revelers on the patio I realized I hadn’t laughed or smiled for the last four days. Then, I had an epiphany and said out loud to Willow, “Stress can eat you alive if you let it.” Willow looked up at me and smiled her doggy smile with tongue akimbo and tail wagging. She was taking this ordeal a lot better than me.
Friday, December 8, 2017
On Friday morning, we walked to the breakfast area where we ate, again, like there was no tomorrow. We also talked about leaving for home instead of staying another night. By staying another night, the air quality was sure to be better but we couldn’t wait to get home.
We left Camarillo at 9am to drive home. Along the way, we bought masks to wear once we got close to the valley. There was a lot of smoke in the downtown/surfers point area of Ventura as we turned off the 101 onto the 33 and headed home. We were hoping the smoke had at least cleared a little in the valley. Driving up through the hard-hit Casitas Springs area we couldn’t see the hillside because of the smoke. Things cleared as we got into Mira Monte and, when we turned onto the 150 going toward downtown, the air was still smoky. Thank goodness, we had the masks.
We got home to find it was just as we had left it, although there was a layer of fire ash on the ground.
Saturday, December 9, 2017
It was good to wake up this morning in our home and in our own bed, although it was a touch disturbing to see fires still on the ridge above Soule Park. At noon helicopters hovered somewhere over the fires dropping loads of water. We were later told that additional fires would be started as “back fires” to make sure the brush on that side of the valley burned down and wouldn’t flare up again. The air quality was 100% improved over the previous day, but we still needed masks when going outside. Things were looking up.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
After a wonderful night’s rest, I woke early. I dressed and went out back to see the fires burning on the hillside above Soul Park. I looked up and could see stars overhead and the half moon. That was good. No wind to speak of. That was even better. By the afternoon, the skies were crystal clear over the Los Padres Forest as seen from our front window. For the first time in 6 days I felt as if we were through the worst of it and could breathe easy. I smiled. Life was good again.
P.S. Both Robin and I know how lucky we are to have our health and our home here in the Ojai Valley. Some of our friends were not as lucky.
Randolph Graham, Taken on December 8th
Randolph Graham, Chef Randy, has been a vegetarian for over 40 years and eats local and organic grain, fresh fruit, and vegetables as much as possible. He is known locally as the “Healthy Chef.” His column, Chef Randy, is syndicated in California newspapers. See his website at Valley-Vegetarian.com for more recipes.
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