Don’t Duck that Mud, Cover It Up

Hedges thick along the roadside, wood fences touching houses, juniper snuggling up under eaves, all these are vegetation scenarios that make firefighters shudder. As Jesusita proved, these conditions promote fire’s spread to homes and beyond, and County Fire’s Tom Franklin wants to make sure residents don’t repeat the same mistakes.

Fire-safe landscaping is the main topic of conversation at a meeting with Santa Barbara County Fire this Wednesday evening, June 17, at 6 p.m. at Fleischmann Auditorium. Further expert advice will be available from the S.B. Botanic Garden’s Andrew Wyatt, director of horticulture.

The bare mineral soil of much of the Santa Barbara foothills prompts the second half of the evening’s presentations: erosion control methods. County flood control czar Tom Fayram will outline the county’s ongoing flood control plan, and Tom Lockhart of the Cachuma Resource Conservation District will cover the range of erosion control devices.

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The fire-safe landscaping meeting is tonight, Wednesday, June 17, 6 p.m. at the Museum of Natural History’s Fleischmann Auditorium, 2559 Puesta del Sol.