By Jorge Mercado Wednesday, August 21st, 2024

California, and the Central Coast as a whole, is no stranger to wildfires and this year has been more active than previous years.

Despite that, officials gathered at a wildfire symposium in Santa Barbara on Aug. 13 to discuss a more resilient future for Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties when it comes to fighting these fires.

Hosted by the California Fire Foundation, leaders from the county and beyond gathered to discuss strategies aimed at helping mitigate the effects of wildfires, which are only becoming more prevalent.

Brian Rice, chairman and president of the California Fire Foundation, shared his experience of how being in the fire service for 40 years, he has seen the intensity of these wildfires getting worse.

During his speech, he shared how these gatherings are important and how spreading the knowledge to everybody in the community is imperative.

“Otherwise, we’re just going to rinse, recycle and repeat what we’ve been doing forever, and we know now that we can do better than that,” he said.

Santa Barbara has seen its share of fires this year, with the now-contained Lake Fire near Los Olivos burning nearly 40,000 acres as well as smaller fires having broke out this summer.

In northern California, the Park Fire, which is only about 54% contained as of Aug. 21, is still burning, having already scorched about 430,000 acres so far.

“In the last two years, the fire seasons have been moderate,” Joe Tyler, director of Cal Fire, said.

“But it didn’t take long — until June of this year for a heat wave across California and for unexpected and unanticipated lightning to occur across the Central Valley, and we were off to the races.”

One of the most devastating fires in the last few years was the Thomas Fire, which scorched Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.

As a result, lessons have been learned from such an incident and have been documented by UC Santa Barbara professor Sarah Anderson. 

Usually, the “fire seasons” for California are in late summer or early fall, but seeing as how the Thomas Fire started in winter, fires are now a year-round concern.

In her research, Anderson stressed the need for more proactive measures going forward given this knowledge.

This includes more flexible funding, improved water supply and greater collaboration between fire agencies and vulnerable communities.

“We live in a really fire-prone area. We have to be able to handle it. That is just our reality,” she said.

The city of Santa Barbara is currently working through its Community Wildfire Protection Plan — blueprints specific to the area’s wildfire needs.

Mark von Tillow, wildland specialist for the city of Santa Barbara Fire Department noted how the community has needed to come together for such a thing to be successful.

He noted how they have taken “tons of vegetation out of places that we needed to for years.”

“We’re now starting to see some change, and the public seems to enjoy what we’re doing. That’s positive feedback.”

Raymond Fugere, the director of Wildfire Safety for Southern California Edison, also spoke at the symposium about the efforts the public utility has taken to prevent wildfires.

Southern California Edison power lines that came into contact during high winds sparked the Thomas Fire in 2017, investigators found.

“We’re not just doing one thing, we’re doing multiple layers because there is no one ‘magic’ solution,” he said.

This includes “hardening the grid.” One way is by installing cover conductors, which would stop sparks from occurring, which could then cause a fire.

On top of that, they are doing other things to change how lines are protected.

“We’re making our relays that protect our lines more sensitive on days that have high fire, because if we can cap and operate a little power, we reduce the electricity and the energy, reducing that likelihood of a fire,” he said.

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