Fire and power alerts urge residents to be prepared for emergency conditions
With fire dangers becoming real again, many people at risk are double checking what the fire departments call a ready, set, go plan.
“…I am trying to get really organized so that I know everything I want to take where it is,” said resident Barbara Wishingrad. “I have my emergency kit I have cash.”
Several Red Flag warning signs are up in the foothills, and in Mission Canyon the Botanic Gardens closed due to concerns in these conditions.
There are also parking restrictions near the Tunnel trail because of possible evacuation issues.
The updated fire danger sign on Foothill Rd. has caused some anxiety but also sparked some action.
“It’s just really hard. I am lucky I have an old gas stove and I would be able to cook but I wouldn’t have refrigeration,” said Wishingrad.
Some areas burned in the 2017 Thomas fire in Montecito and Carpinteria still have a tremendous amount of fuel. If there’s a fire, and north winds that come from the hills swiftly it could be a very dangerous situation. Fire officials do not want residents to be lulled in to thinking there’s little to burn.
Preplanning is essential.
Resident Kelly Bartlett said, “I am aware of it. I get text messages. Then I click on the internet. But what happens when I don’t have the electricity to do that? So I have my little solar powered panels charged up.”
Information is coming out often, from many agencies in English and Spanish for those who signed up for alerts.
” It is almost overload because I am from a generation – we didn’t have this kind of stuff and when we had the fires and stuff how you could walk over to the mall and have it all in writing and pictures. I kind of like that, but I know how to do it digitally,” said Bartlett.
KEYT 2019
