United airlines cancelled flights into and out of Santa Barbara this afternoon. If you decide to go you need to buy masks that are rated N-95. They are being passed out for free to residents because the air is so bad. Plan on spending the whole time indoors. The fire is now forty miles wide and 60 miles long. It is a massive beast. It is raining ash and will continue to rain ash for days and days.

Doesn't sound very fun to me. I might postpone if I could get a credit for my flights.

Airline said travel advisory was only the 12th-15th, so we'd have to pay $200 pp to move dates.

My parents live right by UCSB, so they're away from the worst of it. I think we are going to go. If we have to escape town, we will do so by driving north to cousins.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you meet them somewhere else?
Fly in and all drive elsewhere? Orange County maybe?

That's a good idea, but definitely not in the budget to pay for a week in a hotel. Maybe we can contact aunt and uncle in the Central Valley and see if we can converge there for a few days.

Calling the airline to see if we can switch dates at all.

I suspect the airlines would be lenient in this situation, as they are during hurricanes. If you can wait and go later that would be best.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. It's a hell on earth.

+1 You cannot begin to understand how much smoke and ash is in the air. We have friends who were planning on coming in for New Years and are now cancelling. We left Santa Barbara and are now with family in Los Angeles.

Stay safe and I hope conditions improve soon!

No. I was there the week it spun up. Clear blue skies and lovely on Monday, by the time I left on Thursday the town was enveloped in a smoky haze (like a fog, only it was smoke), and I hear it only got worse from there. My friends and colleagues who live there have all left, even those not under evacuation orders.

Sorry OP, it sucks. Would they be willing to meet you up the coast a ways? You might be ok to fly in and hit the road, since the airport is closer to Goleta.

Anonymous wrote:No. It's a hell on earth.

+1 You cannot begin to understand how much smoke and ash is in the air. We have friends who were planning on coming in for New Years and are now cancelling. We left Santa Barbara and are now with family in Los Angeles.

No. It's a hell on earth.

Anonymous wrote:Can you meet them somewhere else?
Fly in and all drive elsewhere? Orange County maybe?

That's a good idea, but definitely not in the budget to pay for a week in a hotel. Maybe we can contact aunt and uncle in the Central Valley and see if we can converge there for a few days.

Calling the airline to see if we can switch dates at all.

Can you meet them somewhere else?
Fly in and all drive elsewhere? Orange County maybe?

Ugh. I'm about to cry. I haven't seen parents/grandparents for almost 18 months. I hate fires.

They're in Goleta, so not the heart of the city, but close.

No

No. Sorry but don't fly in now if they are in the city of SB. The air quality is awful, the fire is still not fully contained, they keep increasing the evacuation area. The good news is there are 8,000 firefighters working on fire. Right now as I type this they just shut down hwy 101 leading south to LA in both directions. You would be trapped in the city.

No, I would stay where you are. We almost needed to put masks on our kids even when the fires were really nowhere near us, just out in the distant horizon. I wouldn't take a child into that situation.

Maybe even prepare to have your family join you if they need to evacuate and/or the very worst happens.

Bought tickets months ago to spend Christmas with family. They are not at risk of evacuation (and unlikely to be in the future), but Mom admits air quality is bad and they aren't going outside without masks. Ash is snowing, winds are picking up. It would be a week of keeping my 3 year old inside their small house, because we can't do any of the usual stuff, and much of the town is closed for blackouts apparently.

I want to go, but DH is implying it's putting DS at risk and we should reschedule for next summer.