Please think of Mike Everman

Moderator: Mike Everman

milisavljevic
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Please think of Mike Everman

Post by milisavljevic » Thu May 07, 2009 12:30 am

Hello Everyone,

At this very moment, our friend and forum owner/moderator, Mike Everman, is packing his home
in preparation for forced evacuation in the face of an approaching wildfire. This is the real deal.

Please take a moment to think of our friend, his family and the many thousands of his neighbours
who are now at risk of losing their homes. Let us hope the winds will subside or reverse direction.

M.

Update: (4 hours since original post) Things are not looking good in Goleta. (link)

Mike Everman
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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by Mike Everman » Thu May 07, 2009 1:37 pm

Thanks man.
We have not been ordered out yet. We're all packed, but on the edge of a 13,000 person mandatory evacuation area; like a few blocks away. The wind, while very stiff and the main problem has been blowing away from us, so smoke and ash haven't been a big deal until this morning. The sky now looks like Armageddon, and the wind won't kick up until this afternoon.
The second day it looked as if the emergency had passed, barely any smoke and no wind to drive the fire. By about 3pm the plume was up I'd guess about 3,000 feet, and 50 miles long, the flames and smoke fanned by 50mph winds.
Most of our schools are closed.

I found it amazing how little stuff is absolutely irreplaceable in my home. Pictures, some records and clothes, and that's about it.
We'll be fine in any case. I'm glad I bumped up my home insurance after many years of inadequate replacement coverage.
I don't really think we'll lose our house, but it is a real possibility if the wind shifts. There is a road just above us where firefighters would certainly make a stand, but it is common for large embers to jump lines, and we would be long since evacuated in that case.

We'll be fine, but it's sure nervous making!
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
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milisavljevic
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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by milisavljevic » Thu May 07, 2009 1:56 pm

.
Hello Mike -- Thank you for the update! :D

Exhale. Positive thoughts...Inhale. Repeat.

Cheers!
M.

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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by tufty » Thu May 07, 2009 6:25 pm

Good luck, man.

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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by Fricke » Thu May 07, 2009 11:26 pm

I hope for the best! Take care!

Mike Everman
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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by Mike Everman » Fri May 08, 2009 12:07 am

Thanks, guys.
The fire has moved up the mountain and over further abreast of my home. We're watching closely, and watching as 3 of 8 helicopters and 8 fixed wing bombers make water drops just behind the hill above us. The wind has not kicked up yet, but we're expecting it to. Temp is above 101F now, and the temp has gone up 10deg in the last hour. 5,400 homes and 100 businesses evacuated, 10 firefighters injured out of 1,400. 2,000 acres burned.
Trippy.
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by Mike Everman » Fri May 08, 2009 2:22 am

Update:
We're about 100 yards from mandatory evacuation. The sky is smoke and ash is falling like snow. We're all buttoned up in our hermetically sealed house, and expect that we will have to get out sometime soon. Wild.
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by Jutte » Fri May 08, 2009 3:27 am

Whoa - Mike take care Dude!!!
Hope all goes well for you and your family!!!

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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by Mark » Fri May 08, 2009 12:41 pm

I was just watching the morning news and there was mention of a guy who put some spinning sprinklers system on the roof of his house and he had run them the past few years just to test them, to make sure they were working. The news said his $100.00 apparatus saved his house.
That was good to hear that you didn't have that many things that you couldn't live without Mike. I've been through that with hurricane season and even though it is sometimes hard to throw something away because I might find some use for it, when it comes down to it, it's the same thing for me.
Here is an example of the other end of the spectrum. ha
http://www.randomthink.net/misc/ebay/
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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by larry cottrill » Sat May 09, 2009 2:59 am

Mike, have been praying for your (and your family's) safety today. Also that your home would be spared, but that may have been an impossible dream under these conditions.

Sounds like you have a good outlook on facing crisis. Life is precious. The rest is just stuff. Pity the man who cries over losing that.

Hope you're all well and, if you've had to get out, that the basics will soon be provided for. Hang in there, man. This too shall pass.

Larry

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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by Mike Everman » Sat May 09, 2009 5:13 am

Hi guys,
We had to evacuate and join the other 30,000 Santa Barbarans as refugees. Spent the night at friends, and now we are at my shop hunkering down for the weekend. I think maybe they'll lift the evacuation tomorrow or for sure Sunday. There just isn't enough fuel to burn up above us to threaten our house now. Here's a pic of what it looked like when we left. Ash falling like snow while we packed our cars.
What an adventure!
I hear there was a 4.3 quake today. Shoot, I missed it! Someone joked that they were looking for locusts next. ha
Attachments
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Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
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Ghrey
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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by Ghrey » Sat May 09, 2009 7:54 am

I have been watching this fire closely. I some how missed this post until now. I was/am aware of your proximity and have been quite concerned.

Glad you are well. I hope home will greet your return, intact and inhabitable.

From our vantage point in the Sanfernando valley this looks like a preview of a long dangerous fire season.

Hopefully the danger for you is fully past.


Brant
In the process of moving, from the glorified phone booth we had to the house we have.

No real time to work on jets, more space, no time.

Life still complicated.

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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by Viv » Sat May 09, 2009 1:03 pm

Hi Mike

Glad to hear you and yours are all safe and sound, cant say I would describe it as an adventure but the Locusts reference made me laugh ;-)

We hope all is ok now and you can settle down for a less exciting weekend.

Viv & Nicole
"Sometimes the lies you tell are less frightening than the loneliness you might feel if you stopped telling them" Brock Clarke

Viv's blog

Monsieur le commentaire

Mike Everman
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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by Mike Everman » Sat May 09, 2009 4:27 pm

Thanks guys!
We snuck back through the blockade to see what we're in for. doing a little clean up. ash everywhere. I hear it burned right down to the edge of our main foothill road above us, about 100yds. We're feeling pretty lucky, but also a bit out of sorts from the sustained anxiety.
Hoping to go see Star Trek today after some more cleanup.
thanks for all the well-wishes and prayers! The danger is passed. One good thing is that 50 years of underbrush is now gone. There's no such thing as "controlled burn" around here. ha
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
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milisavljevic
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Re: Please think of Mike Everman

Post by milisavljevic » Sun May 10, 2009 3:28 am

.
Mike Everman wrote:Hoping to go see Star Trek today after some more cleanup.
Now there's one man's comedy, amidst life's tragedy.

Image

Nice to know that you got through it all with a smile.

Cheers,
M.
no safe haven for merchant scum


for ye merchants who do the prop'r t'ing only if
ye be haul'd-up on charges b'fore ye ship-mates
an' threat'nd wit' forfeiture of all ye precious loot
hear this - so-called stand-up guys YE BE NOT

avast!
Cap'n M.

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