Montecito Fire offering burlap sandbags ahead of rain storm

MONTECITO, Calif. – For the upcoming storms on the South Coast, Montecito Fire is offering the community sandbags that are made with burlap rather than plastic to be environmentally conscious.

The National Weather Service is predicting a series of storms this week that are expected to produce several inches of rain and potential flooding impacts across the South Coast.

Montecito Fire is encouraging community members to prepare their properties for the wet weather and plan accordingly before the rain arrives.

Montecito Fire has established a sandbag filling station at Lower Manning Park.

The fire department switched from providing plastic bags to burlap bags at the sandbag filling station, as the use of plastic bags for filling sandbags poses hazards to the environment.

This environmentally conscious change is made possible through a partnership between the Montecito Fire Department’s Board of Directors and non-profit organization Heal the Ocean.

The Montecito Fire Protection District Board of Directors requested that future activations of the sandbag filling station be supplied with burlap bags and to discontinue use of plastic bags.

The change from plastic to burlap will cost the Fire District about $1 more per bag.

Heal the Ocean generously offered to reimburse the Fire District for the first 3,000 burlap bags as part of the organization’s longstanding efforts to reduce pollution along the Santa Barbara County coastline. 

Montecito Fire Protection District will fund the purchase of burlap bags as a permanent commitment to being environmentally responsible.