Drying grasses serve as a fire season warning with little time to spare
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – You don't have to see flames in the hills to know fire season has arrived. You just need to see brown grasses and give you that inner worry about strong winds.
The turning point is taking place. The beautiful green hills and colorful spring flowers are giving way to vegetation that is often called fuel by firefighters.
The Santa Barbara City Fire Wildland Specialist Mark VonTillow stood at the Douglas Family Preserve surrounded by tall vegetation and trees and said, "when it dries out, then what you see behind me turns into essentially a big grass field. And that's that's not good for fire behavior."
The city has targeted many parks especially those adjacent to residential homes to create a defensible space.
Santa Barbara City Open Space Planner Monique O'Conner said, "some of the spaces where you'll see this work done Parma Park, Honda Valley, Douglas Family Preserve, those are just to name a few. And yeah, 18 stations throughout the city. And we're wrapping that work up now."
In some cases a four legged approach has been brought in to the areas that are too tough for some fire crews to reach. That includes goats and sheep from companies that specialize in this type of fuel management.
"They are preserves and we want them to function in the natural way that they should. But in the spaces where we're right in that wildland urban interface, it's a good space for us to to intervene and better protect our, our natural ecosystems," said O'Conner.
In high fire zones some residents or neighborhood associations are paying for their own goats or sheep in programs that will help everyone nearby and have a defensible space for arriving fire crews.
Based on what's been seen so far, if there's a fire, especially in windy conditions, it will be challenging for the front line firefighters.
Vontillow said, "they do make a big difference, not only is it strategic for the firefighters to come in and take a stand, but also for a fire that runs into a place that's been treated. The fire behavior lays down, allows us to attack it."
Already there's been some serious concerns. Vontillow said, "I've seen cigarette butts in here on the trail."
"Many homeowners have cleared back brush and dry grass in required areas. For those who don't do it, starting June 1, I'll probably send out a letter to some people, that need to do their weed abatement. according to the area that they're in, the coastal, coastal interior, foothill or extreme different distances."
Those clearances can be from 30 to 100 feet.
On Monday, fire agencies on the Central Coast will declare high fire season.
