Longtime Resident Of Carpinteria Grateful House Is Still Standing With Thomas Fire
CARPINTERIA (CBSLA) -- A longtime resident of Carpinteria is grateful to see his house standing after several nights of watching the Thomas Fire creeping ever so close.
"Very, very scary. Very intimidating. Huge flames. Moved really fast," Eddy Clark.told CBS2's Greg Mills.
Clark and his girlfriend Christina returned home Sunday afternoon following an evacuation in the hills of Carpinteria.
She slept last night. He couldn't. Clark said he was watching the Thomas Fire increase in intensity -- and he was watching it start to blow towards his house.
Clark has lived here for 31 years and he said all he could do was spend the night watching and worrying.
"Scared. Petrified," he said.
Around 1:30 this morning, Clark woke his girlfriend.
"I said it's time to go," Clark said.
They went down the hill and watched the fire climb.
"At one point one of my friends called and I told him I thought my house was on fire. It was terrifying," Clark said.
His house wasn't on fire. It's fine.
It was another house one hill over -- this one tucked into the hills along Gobernador Road.
Firefighters were unable to save that house. Strong winds moved in and the house was quickly engulfed.
It's been a wild and windy week. Fire has come dangerously close to as many homes as have been destroyed.
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered and Clark said it's almost become a daily occurrence -- visitors he's not expecting.
"Thursday night they came knocking on the door," he said.
Most homes have a guide on their mailbox -- telling firefighters where there is a water source, the 100 feet of defensible space and that there is no one home needing rescue.