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Carpinteria Summerland Fire Protection District, Fire Safe Council outline wildfire response, prevention programs
Summary
Fire Chief Robert Kovac and the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council presented district capabilities, mutual aid procedures and community programs — including chipping, grazing and home evaluations — and urged continued resident preparedness as the council discussed coordination with city staff.
Fire Chief Robert Kovac and Fire Marshal Michael Lamonica of the Carpinteria–Summerland Fire Protection District and Kate Furlong, community resilience lead for the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council, described the agencies’ roles, local resources and resident programs during the Carpinteria City Council meeting on June 23.
Kovac told the council the district covers more than 40 square miles from the Ventura County line into the Los Padres National Forest foothills and operates two fire stations. “We’re an all‑risk agency,” Kovac said, “We respond to fires, mostly, also to medical emergencies,” noting the district’s regular work on wildland fires, water‑rescue calls and technical rescues and its on‑call battalion chief and reserve apparatus for major events. He described California’s multi‑layer mutual‑aid system, how the county coordinates regional resources and how, when incidents escalate, requests move to a state or federal level.
The Fire Safe Council’s Kate Furlong said the nonprofit manages education and mitigation programs countywide and has grown from a volunteer board to a staff of full‑time employees delivering about $10 million in grants and programs. “Sixty to 90 percent of homes that are damaged or lost are caused from ember intrusion,” Furlong said, summarizing research that informs the council’s home‑hardening and defensible‑space outreach. She highlighted the council’s chipping program, sheep grazing for fuel reduction, home risk evaluations and the Firewise USA neighborhood program.
Both agencies described day‑to‑day collaboration with city staff. Kovac cited joint training, evacuation planning and the countywide push to implement Genesis, a zone‑based evacuation notification system; he also described the district’s role at the Avocado Festival and in lifeguard training. Lamonica said the fire prevention bureau performs plan reviews for construction projects, with a target 10‑business‑day turnaround and regular coordination with city code enforcement. Furlong said her group has expanded bilingual outreach and community focus groups aimed at monolingual Spanish speakers and lower‑income residents who may face barriers to property‑scale mitigation work.
Council members asked about the mechanics of mutual aid and local call volumes. Kovac estimated the district handles about 2,300 calls a year across his jurisdiction and said roughly three‑quarters are medical calls — a principal rationale for placing paramedics on engines. He explained that when a local operational area cannot meet needs it requests resources by region or, if necessary, the state and federal interstate mutual‑aid compacts.
The presentation closed with council members thanking staff and the visiting agencies and with no formal policy action beyond the council’s subsequent vote to receive and file the presentation.
Why it matters: Carpinteria’s wildfire and water‑rescue risks make interagency coordination and resident mitigation programs central to public safety and city planning. The district’s operational overview and the Fire Safe Council’s programs identify services residents and property owners can use and clarify how the city and county coordinate during large incidents.
