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Don’t Let the Wet Winter Fool You… The Threat of Wildfire is Always There

by Christina Atchison

After a record-setting rain season and months of mild weather, the threat of wildfire may seem like less of a concern for the Santa Barbara County South Coast this year.

As we celebrated the red, white, and blue over the past week, temperatures rose significantly for the first time in 2023. No matter how much rain we received last winter, heatwaves like this one are a harbinger of our wildfire risk.

On June 28, Montecito Fire Department hosted a Wildfire Preparedness Community Meeting at El Montecito Presbyterian Church alongside our partners from California Highway Patrol, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management, and Santa Barbara Police Department.

With all the experts gathered in one room, the full picture of our wildfire risk and evacuation challenges became quite clear. Preparing your property for wildfire now and planning your evacuation route(s) are critical to maintaining our community’s resilience.

This Season’s Fire Danger Outlook

Montecito Wildfire Fire Specialist and Fire Behavior Analyst Nic Elmquist keeps close tabs on fuel moisture levels, fire weather predictions, and current conditions.

While our local vegetation has retained more moisture than at this time last year, a warmer and drier weather pattern can quickly wick it away.

“Regardless of the winter’s precipitation, the moisture contained in the chaparral plants will always be at critical levels by the fall,” Elmquist said. “We can almost guarantee fire danger will rapidly rise throughout the summer and be at our typical heightened levels by late summer/early fall, which coincides with when the local strong sundowner winds are most prevalent.”

Elmquist points back to 2008 when despite experiencing 100 percent of normal precipitation in Santa Barbara County, the Tea Fire ignited on November 13 and destroyed several hundred homes in Montecito in just a few short hours.

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