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Unexpected use for Tesla app: Thomas Fire

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tomas

Out of warranty...
Supporting Member
Oct 22, 2012
4,345
4,266
Santa Barbara/New York
our house in Santa Barbara county is in the middle of fire zone, threatened by yesterday’s blow up. We are in Chicago with few reliable ways to get accurate news. I was using security webcam to check house, but power went out yesterday am. The only way I’ve been able to ascertain house OK? Checking in with my Model S in garage via Tesla app! Not out of the woods yet, but still ok this am.
 
I have a buddy whose house was threatened by the fires we had earlier this year. He remotely logged into his router and PC to check that his house was still there. Logging into something to check is a pretty clever idea.

Wishing you the best.
 
Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. For a number of years my father had a condo in West Palm Beach, FL and whenever a hurricane hit the power would go out for days. He would call the condo landline and if the answering machine picked up then he knew the power was back on. If it just kept ringing then it was still off.

Good luck with your house and the fire.
 
our house in Santa Barbara county is in the middle of fire zone, threatened by yesterday’s blow up. We are in Chicago with few reliable ways to get accurate news. I was using security webcam to check house, but power went out yesterday am. The only way I’ve been able to ascertain house OK? Checking in with my Model S in garage via Tesla app! Not out of the woods yet, but still ok this am.
That must be super stressful... I hope everything works out for you.
 
Problem with land line and computer checks: power and phone lines go out in wind/Fire. Miracle of cellular service (with some redundancy) and Tesla (with its own power source) is that it is much more resilient.

True, nothing is guaranteed. I’m a bit north of Orlando and after hurricane Irma a few months ago I lost both my cable internet and my cell service. Oddly enough, I never lost power. The cable internet was out for nearly a week and cell service was out completely for most of a day and then in and out for another two or three days.

The funny thing is that I was prepared for a power outage with a generator, but the lack of connectivity nearly drove me insane. I’m way too dependent on the internet.
 
Best of luck on your home and neighborhood. Has to be really tough being away from the area too. Nice thought about checking in on your Tesla app.

When the Big Sur Fire happened up here, there was a blogger, Big Sur Kate, who published updated info and photos from neighbors and fire fighters on her blog. Great resource for everyone in the area and those afar. I haven't seen anything similar for your area but if this is any help here's the website for the Santa Barbara County Fire Cams: Santa Barbara County Fire webcams sherrif cams Have you been to this site yet? : Thomas Fire - Montecito Fire The "Open Live Google Map of Fire Hotspots" linked to on this site looks pretty detailed. Also check out the National Science Foundation "WIFIRE map" link. There might be some good news for you on the Southern Calif Ed site. There are repairs to an area of Montecito that are suppose to be completed by 5pm today. You can check your address there.
 
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Best of luck on your home and neighborhood. Has to be really tough being away from the area too. Nice thought about checking in on your Tesla app.

When the Big Sur Fire happened up here, there was a blogger, Big Sur Kate, who published updated info and photos from neighbors and fire fighters on her blog. Great resource for everyone in the area and those afar. I haven't seen anything similar for your area but if this is any help here's the website for the Santa Barbara County Fire Cams: Santa Barbara County Fire webcams sherrif cams Have you been to this site yet? : Thomas Fire - Montecito Fire The "Open Live Google Map of Fire Hotspots" linked to on this site looks pretty detailed. Also check out the National Science Foundation "WIFIRE map" link. There might be some good news for you on the Southern Calif Ed site. There are repairs to an area of Montecito that are suppose to be completed by 5pm today. You can check your address there.
Thx. On top of all that plus there are ham radio guys giving play by play. Problem is that maps are 12+ hours delayed and so when things move fast, like Saturday, not reliable. At this time Tuesday is looking good.
 
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Tomas can your area be seen from the Santa Ynez Peak webcam...maybe the east view? Right now with it dark I see alot of city lights but not sure what city/cities I'm seeing there along the coast. Hope your power got restored.

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We were down in Santa Ynez right when the Whittier Fire broke out and I know it reached some of the electronic equipment up on the peak as seen from the SY side. We've only briefly driven to Santa Barbara once before down 154 so not very familar with that side of the range. Such beautiful coastline. Hope you make it okay through Wednesday/Thursday.
 
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