A man was found dead after rolling his pickup truck off of West Camino Cielo Road on Saturday night, according to Santa Barbara County Fire.
At 9:30 p.m., a crash notification from a 2025 Toyota Tacoma alerted 9-1-1 to a possible single-vehicle incident deep in the Santa Barbara mountains — roughly seven miles past where the pavement ends. County Fire, California Highway Patrol, and other agencies responded to the alert, finding the truck 300 feet down a steep slope off the dirt roadway.
Fire personnel located a deceased middle-aged man in steep, vegetated terrain next to the truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Crews continued searching the area into the night, deploying a county-owned drone to scan the hillside for any additional victims. None were found.
The terrain posed immediate access challenges.
“The road was pretty bad from what I understand. He was seven miles past where the asphalt ended,” said Mike Gray, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
Engines could not make the full approach. “So we had utility pickup trucks that were able to get farther back than any of the engines could in order to make access,” Gray said.
The cause of death has not yet been determined. CHP is leading the crash investigation.
The Independent has reached out to Raquel Zick of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office regarding identification of the deceased. Zick said she is awaiting confirmation from detectives before releasing the name.
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