Jesusita Roman Candles

Back during the 1994 Painted Cave Fire, a bunch of us had ridden our bikes into SB from Goleta during the day and got stuck down there when the blaze split the communities in two.

At one point Baughb and I decided to take a shot at getting home by riding down Modoc Road toward Hollister Ave., but the smoke was so thick you could barely see and both sides of the street were lined with giant palm trees that were going up like huge roman candles, much like those you see here.

We thought better of it and turned back but, unknown to us, our friend John Keough charged on down the same road, passing through that gauntlet of fire and ultimately getting home to Ellwood Shores two days before any of the rest of us.

Fires like this will make people do some insane things.