Over 250 volunteers help out the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade

The Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade was out in full force on Thursday.

Over 250 volunteers from local companies put shovels in their hands and spent several hours helping homeowners in the recovery process.

It was something that even sparked some national attention.

“It’s very impressive and very heartening to see,” said New York Times reporter Thomas Fuller.

Fuller has made the trip to Montecito a number of times covering the mudslides, but Thursday he made a special trip to see the recovery process in person.

“For us, it is a very important national story because it shows the vulnerabilities of California,” said Fuller. “It’s such a beautiful place to live and blessed with beautiful weather, but it has these dangers.”

What Fuller witnessed was the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade working together with a group of local organizations to help remove debris, and recover items buried from the January 9 mudslide. The Bucket Brigade usually volunteer on weekends, but this time they were out in full force during the week.

“This is one of the bigger days,” said Thomas Cole from the Bucket Brigade. “We have over 250 volunteers, and we split up into five different teams all up and down East Valley Lane here.”

“I came out here with the Deckers brand group, and we came out here to help,” said Rachel Horn who decide to volunteer with Deckers organization. “This is our community, and we care a lot about it.”

For many volunteers, it was their first time helping with the cleanup process, but for others, they keep coming back to help residents like Curtis Skene. He’s lived in his house since he was ten years old.

“I’m alive, and I am obviously grateful for that,” said Skene. “Today I’m grateful for the Bucket Brigade for the help which is really an incredible organization, and it’s just amazing to see what they are doing.”

Curtis shares his story of survival with the New York Times. He says how proud he is to see his community rise-up and help their neighbors.

“I would say spread the story because it can be a template for other places,” said Skene.

The Bucket Brigades will be back volunteering this weekend, this time at 1790 San Leandro Lane from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.