It's called water

A California Department of Forestry air tanker flies over dozens of destroyed homes in the Montecito area. (Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press)

Brother Joseph Brown, of the Benedictine Order of the Holy Cross, takes in the total devastation of his monastery. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

You all remember the Tea Fire in Montecito I was so concerned about last Friday? Course you do. In the aftermath of the fire that consumed 219 homes, injured 13 people, and led to one death, the sheriff announced that it was ignited from the smoldering remains of an improperly extinguished illegal bonfire started by 10 local young people. Immediately, the local community leaped to blame students at Westmont, a sweet little Christian college up in the hills whose own campus was badly damaged. (You can see the rage-filled finger-pointing on this message board.)

Guess what? Turns out it wasn't Westmont kids at all, but hooligans from Santa Barbara City College. This makes much more sense to me, as SBCC kids time and again prove their foolishness on the streets of Isla Vista. (They are often the ones hosting gigantic keggers, burning couches, and falling off cliffs during their five-year, D+ average, junior college careers.) So, way to go, vaqueros. How are you going to get out of this one?

Westmont College psychology Professor Brenda Smith surveys the remains of Bauder Hall, a 1920s building that served as Psychology Department offices and classrooms. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)