SANTA BARBARA, CA (December 11, 2017) – Santa Barbara is “like a ghost town,” and roughly 80 percent of the people who attend Montecito Covenant Church have left the area due to thick smoke and ash caused by the Thomas Fire, pastor Ian Noyes said tonight.
“It looked apocalyptic yesterday,” said Noyes. “The sky looked a rotten egg yellow.”
Twenty-five people attended church on Sunday. “That’s about 10 percent of our normal attendance,” Noyes said.
The fire has burned for a week and consumed 230,000 acres, making it the fifth largest in California history, according to state officials. Hundreds of homes and other structures have been destroyed.
It is one of several fires burning in the area around Los Angeles.
