As the Lake fire was growing to become the largest wildfire burning in California, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors was updated this week on steps that have been taken to lower the risk of fire breaking out and spreading.
The cause of the Lake fire is still under investigation, but it ignited about 3 p.m. Friday near Zaca Lake and spread to encompass 29,987 acres as of Wednesday morning, with only 16% containment and evacuation warning zones extended to the outskirts of Los Olivos.
But given the county’s history of huge wildfires, County Fire and the nonprofit County Fire Safe Council have been working with funds from California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to prevent such blazes from starting, control their spread and raise public awareness about the danger, according to a report to the board.
County Fire Marshal Fred Tan outlined some of the major projects undertaken by County Fire using funds provided by the state through Cal Fire and California Climate Investments, including a $2.2 million grant for the Lompoc Valley Fuel Reduction Project.
County Fire crews cleared out overgrown areas and vegetation along roadways, where most of the county’s wildfires have historically ignited, and created new and expanded existing fire breaks.
Another $3 million grant is pending for the second phase of fuel reduction in the Lompoc Valley area, Tan said.
Using a $6.7 million grant, County Fire conducted much the same kind of fuel reduction activities in the Tepusquet Canyon area, treating more than 700 acres of land in an area where fire danger is high.
Tan said County Fire also received $1.25 million in direct funding for wildfire risk reduction, a public chipping program and public education about maintaining cleared defensible space around homes as well as general fire danger awareness.
County Fire also conducted prescribed burns in the Spaulding-Midland area south of Alamo Pintado Creek and on the Bar M Ranch, where vegetation was also manually removed.
Vegetation was also removed in multiple areas scattered across 117 acres in the San Antonio Creek area as well as the southern slopes of the Santa Ynez Mountains near El Capitan State Beach and just east of Highway 154.
Sign up to receive headlines in your inbox!
Working hand-in-hand with County Fire, the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council has promoted fire safety and helped educate the public since it was formed in 1997, said Anne-Marie Parkinson, its executive director.
Parkinson said up until 2021, the council consisted of an all-volunteer board of directors that obtained about $300,000 through three grants and worked on about three projects.
Since then, the council has grown to a full-time staff of six, with three seasonal interns, obtained 10 grants totaling $10.3 million and launched 11 programs and seven projects.
Its activities have included a chipping program offered to 1,400 South County residences that removed more than 1,500 tons of vegetation, including along roadways. Plans call for expanding the program to the North County in 2025.
The council’s grazing program has placed goats on more than 450 South County acres to reduce vegetation, and the council plans to also expand that into the North County next year.
Eleven low-income households have been assisted in creating defensible space around their homes, with another 70 to 90 homes targeted for the program.
Currently, the council is helping low-income residents do low-cost home retrofits like replacing air vents.
Parkinson said one the council’s most successful programs has been forming 14 focus groups to delve into the barriers faced by low-income communities in preparing for wildfires and surviving their impacts.
Four follow-up workshops have been conducted, and information has been shared with various agencies, she said.
Other activities conducted by the council include creating a comprehensive wildfire education program, holding four large community education events, including a recent live and online wildfire evacuation and survival workshop.
The council has also evaluated more than 200 homes for wildfire safety and developed 16 Firewise communities of 1,665 homes and 3,761 individuals.
