Santa Barbara City Administrator Addresses Fire Concerns

In the week since a series of fires began burning through Los Angeles County, concerns about the city of Santa Barbara’s own fire preparedness have snapped back into the community consciousness. For days, city councilmembers and administrative staff have had their inboxes flooded with questions about fire hydrants, water availability, and vegetation management.

During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, City Administrator Kelly McAdoo addressed these concerns and provided an update on the city’s first responders assisting in the Palisades and Eaton fires. In the lengthy comment, McAdoo outlined the city’s fire and water protocols, and asked for “patience” while emergency responders were “still in the middle of an active emergency response.” 

“I know the fire is not here,” she said. “But our personnel, because of the proximity, are engaged in that.”

Santa Barbara City Fire Department has 18 personnel in the Los Angeles area, where City Fire engines have joined a county strike team from Montecito, Lompoc, Santa Maria, and Carpinteria-Summerland. At the Palisades Fire, a four-person Santa Barbara City Fire brush engine with two team leaders and a division supervisor was deployed, and at the Eaton Fire, Santa Barbara sent a four-person city structure engine and a six-person urban search and rescue rig.

McAdoo also said several city staff members have been personally affected by the fires, which have now burned more than 12,000 structures in less than a week.

McAdoo said the City of Santa Barbara was uniquely experienced with wildfire response, and since the 2017 Thomas Fire, there has been close coordination between the city’s water, fire, and police departments to ensure the city would be as prepared as possible for worst-case scenarios.

One thing she wanted to make clear is that the city’s water supply was fully stocked.

“We do have a robust water supply portfolio,” McAdoo said. “It’s one of the most diverse water supplies in the state of California.”

In addition to Lake Cachuma — which is currently 90 percent full — the city has access to the Gibraltar Reservoir, the State Water Project extension, Mission Tunnel, local groundwater, recycled water, and desalinated water from the Pacific Ocean.

“We currently have over three years of water available that would meet the city’s needs, assuming we have dry weather conditions,” she said.

But, McAdoo added, even with access to water reservoirs at full capacity, the city of Santa Barbara could still expect to see damage in a fire as fast-moving and destructive as the Palisades Fire.

“There will be some wildfires that are of magnitude that no potable water system — including the city’s — would have sufficient water to stop some level of destruction,” she said. “It’s just a fact of life, unfortunately.”

With another fire sparking in Ventura County less than a day earlier and some areas of the region under a red flag warning, McAdoo said that the city is doing everything in its power to make sure staff is prepared to respond at a moment’s notice. Water storage is increased, vegetation is being cleared from high fire areas, generators are refueled, and emergency departments are staffed to full capacity during wind events.

She suggested community members sign up for ReadySBC alerts and to have an evacuation plan.

“This allows our firefighters and police officers to really focus on emergency response and securing the evacuation routes, versus worrying about people having a plan to get out of their neighborhoods,” she said.