Santa Barbara County Fire recently received a $300,000 donation from Montecito billionaire Craig McCaw; the money comes out of concern over how the drought could affect the summer-fall fire season. Fire Chief Michael Dyer will present a detailed spending plan — possibly for additional staffing — to the supervisors in August. Last July, McCaw and Independent Publisher Joe Cole successfully fought against building a third fire station in Montecito, a project that was found to have an insufficient environmental analysis and which Montecito residents said would violate the community’s character.
