Concerns about the late-season wildfire in the Santa Barbara area stretched to Sacramento and beyond, especially among people with loved ones in the area.
Deborah Johnson, a Westmont College alum and mother, said her most traumatic moments came Thursday evening as more than 800 students – her daughter Erica among them – were sheltered inside the Montecito campus gym as nearby buildings went up in flames.
"It's kind of a vulnerable feeling knowing your daughter is locked in a gym," said Johnson, a school nurse.
The Tea Fire destroyed nine campus structures on the 1,300-student private Christian college. Fourteen faculty homes were also lost, according to the campus Web site. No students or staff were injured.
Erica Johnson, a Rio Americano High School graduate, said she and friends were walking from the cafeteria around 6 p.m. when they saw "massive flames" behind the dorms.
She fled with her room key, cell phone and the clothes on her back, she said. Four of the 17 dorms were destroyed.
Johnson, a freshman, said she slept in a Santa Barbara church office when students were allowed to leave campus early Friday morning.
Colin Williams, a 2005 graduate working in Sacramento as a mental health counselor, said he called and messaged friends for status updates.
Katie Welsh, a 2007 Westmont graduate, said she was saddened. "That was my life for four years," said Welsh, a Southern California native now working in Sacramento as a early childhood educator.
Meanwhile, at nearby UC Santa Barbara, Nathan Domek, a 2008 Christian Brothers High School graduate, said he and friends watched the fire from the eighth floor of their dorm.
"The fire was huge, way bigger than we expected it to be. So I grabbed my camera, and we went to the beach to get a better look," Domek said in an e-mail to The Bee.
Call The Bee's Ed Fletcher, (916) 321-1269.
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