Lance and Carla Burn Fund
In November 2008, two Caidans from the Shire of Isles were severely injured and lost their home in the Montecito Tea fire. Lord Caius Laevus (Wilhem Caius) mka Lance Hoffman and Carla of Isles mka Carla Hoffman.
How to Help
- Cash donations: The Montecito Fire Protection District set up the Tea Fire Burn Victim Relief Fund in their benefit.
- The Lance and Carla Burn Fund
- Santa Barbara Bank and Trust
- 1483 East Valley Road
- Montecito, CA 93108-1248
- Gift Card donations:
- Vicondesa Jimena Montoya
- c/o Liberty Stanavage
- 795 C Juniper Walk
- Goleta, CA 93117.
- widowmontoya@hotmail.com
- SCA Armor donation:
- Lance's SCA armor has been recovered from the ashes of their home, and I am looking for an SCA armorer that can put it back in shape for him when he gets out of the hospital. If anyone has any suggestions, please contact Mike Cassidy, Govannon's Forge, mikecas@pacbell.net or call me at 949 606-4304.
- Dec. 1st Fundraiser
- Volunteers from Mimosa Restaurant and AMA Martial Arts will be holding special fundraiser dinner at Restaurant Mimosa 5-9pm Dec 1st. All profits and tips are going to be donated to the "Lance and Carla relief fund".
- Details:
- $30 will pay for a 3 course meal.
- 5-9pm Dec 1st.
- Restaurant Mimosa 2700 De La Vina St.
- 805-682-2272
- Web Link
Official notes from the Caidan Disaster Relief Coordinator, Mistress Aldgytha
Coming Soon
What Happened?
Overview
Thursday November 13th, 2008 two members of the Shire of Isles in the Kingdom of Caid were seriously injured. Lord Caius Laevus/Wilhelm Caius (mka Lance Hoffman) and his wife Carla were severely burned escaping the Tea Fire in Montecito, CA.
The Montecito Tea fire is now contained. Unfortunately, two members of our kingdom were among the most severely affected by the fire. Wilhelm Caius/Caius Laevus (mka Lance Hoffman) and his wife Carla were severely burnt escaping the fire Thursday night, and were airlifted to the burn ward at UC Irvine Medical Center. They have extensive second degree burns, and are currently under sedation until the swelling goes down. Lance is a long-time heavies fighter and the leader of the Isles war unit, the Hand of the Hunt, and Carla fights rapier.
The good news is that they are expected to make a full recovery. The bad news is that they may be in the hospital for up to two months, and have probably lost all of their possessions. They were renting a property in the area closest to the fire, and the house was completely destroyed.
From THL Christian von Eiland
11/22/2008 Lance and Carla are very close friends of mine, and I'm pretty in the know as to what their situation is. AFIAK they are still under sedation at the burns ward at UC Irvine med center. The doctors should be bringing them around within the next couple of days. On the night of the fire my gf and I were under mandatory evacuation as the fire came within 2000ft of my house, though we were spared the Hoffman's lived close to the heart of the fire. Lance and Carla lived high on the side of the mountain in a small hunting lodge with a million dollar view of Santa Barbara and the ocean. Though the house was in good condition the road to the property had been washed out and had been unusable for several years, requiring you to park about 150-200 yards away from the house. Lance and Carla did not have a landline or watch much television so likely did not recieve the 911 evacuation calls or otherwise hear of the growing fire. Needless to say power to much of the affected area was out, killing the internet and tv. With 70-90 mph Ana winds the fire exploded.
Whats SEEMS to have happened is the fire had come quite close before they had noticed. With the tremendous speeds at which the fire was moving they had very little time to evacuate. On the road to their vehicle, approx. 50yds from the house the fire appears to have overtaken them, likely where they suffered the worst of their burns. Lance was able to get them to the car and drive it down the mountain to the Montecito Fire Station despite the second and third degree burns to his legs, arms, hands and face. At this point they were casevaced to the nearby hospital, stabilized and medivaced to Irvine. Again, this is all speculation and we won't know the truth until they come to. The prognosis is good, with expected full recoveries for both of them. It has been amazing to see the outpouring of support from the community, SCA and friends. People have been almost fighting to donate clothes, money, time and resources. Right now their is a tremendous effort to locate their cats, and my garage is being converted into a storage site for the donated goods. As a friend and I were the first to get to the house after the fire I can confirm that the only objects remaining was Lance's armour. Though all the leather strapping was destroyed, the rapid speed of the fire prevented it from getting too hot and I think most of the armour is quite salvageable. Sir Rhys and I will be seeing what we can do about that.
