The Thomas Fire and The Holidays
Photo Credit: Stewart Palley, U.S. Forest Service twitter @stuartpalley
I wanted to make this post personal. I want to share my thoughts and experience on the Thomas fire. I’m sure by now you are familiar with the Thomas fire, which as we speak continues to burn the mountains of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Ojai. The fire started in December 4th at 6:28 pm, all started between the Highway 154 and 126 North Santa Paula. As the fire continues is unknown the exact number of acres the fire will consume. At the moment the Thomas Fire has destroyed 1,063 Structures, 280 Structures Damaged. The Thomas fire now has become the largest fire in California.
December is usually the month to prepare for holidays and Christmas chopping, however for three weeks we spend days and nights expecting evacuation warnings. One morning we got notified that we needed to evacuate. My family and I and my 5 birds we were fortunate enough to have family in Goleta, which is a few minutes away from Santa Barbara where we stayed for few days.
Not everyone was fortunate like we were. I couldn't stop myself from feeling some type of guilt for those people who were staying in shelters and the animals that couldn't spend time with their families because they were evacuated in animal shelters.
As the fire continues, and firefighters and first responders continue the fight, I feel selfish to be back home eating dinner with my family on Christmas Eve. Having to see them spend time away from their families to protect ours is heartbreaking. The residents of the cities affected by the Thomas fire we cannot appreciate enough the job that the firefighters and first responders have done for our homes and towns. To ALL the firefighters from different states around America who came to our towns to fight the fire we appreciate you. To ALL our local police officers and sheriffs deputies, we thank you for keeping us alert during the evacuation process. To ALL the military officers, thank you for coming to our homes and keeping our streets safe.
As much as we would like to have everyone back home safe with their families, unfortunately we lost a HERO. The death of firefighter Cory Iverson from San Diego County who unfortunately lost his life fighting the Thomas fire, we cannot find enough words to explain how sorry we are. He will always be remembered as a hero.
I’ve seen Ventura County, Santa Barbara, and Ojai stand strong together to help each other. It's amazing to see people donating food and clothes. Other people sharing their homes. We are a strong community who will find the strength to reconstruct our towns. It will take time to see the mountains come back to life, houses will be reconstructed, and families will be reunited with their pets. Everything will take time. We will always remember our heroes who continue fighting the Thomas fire. We will always remember the memories we have of the Thomas fire.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
-Taimaria
Special thanks to
KEYT news for keeping us in formed through the fire and evacuation
Photo Credit: @CAL_FIRE