Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Wildfire Preparedness topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fire marshal outlines community wildfire protection plan, highlights collaboration with parks on vegetation management
Summary
Santa Barbara Fire Marshal Ryan DeJulio presented the updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) and described how fire department crews and park staff are coordinating fuel-reduction work in city open spaces to reduce wildfire risk while protecting habitat.
Santa Barbara Fire Marshal Ryan DeJulio told the Parks and Recreation Commission on May 28 that the city’s updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) — revised in 2021 and available on the fire department’s website — is the operating guide for vegetation management, defensible-space requirements and community preparedness in high fire hazard areas.
DeJulio described the CWPP as a cross-departmental playbook that outlines defensible-space distances, homeowner outreach (including free defensible-space evaluations), evacuation planning and vegetation management units on city-owned open spaces. He emphasized that much of the city’s highest-hazard acreage is in city-owned open space and that any large-scale vegetation treatment must balance wildfire risk reduction with habitat protection and community values.
A major result of the CWPP update is expanded collaboration between Fire and Parks and Recreation: the city has secured grant funding from Cal Fire and the Coastal Conservancy to support treatment in priority vegetation-management units and has built an interdepartmental crew model. DeJulio said the fire department has hired a vegetation-management crew to do mechanical treatments and that Monique O’Connor (Open Space Planner) and parks staff are guiding crews on habitat-sensitive methods (for example, avoiding nesting birds, retaining logs for trail features, and creating mosaic patterns rather than wholesale clearing).
DeJulio and staff noted specific outreach and program elements: an online GIS layer lets residents check whether a given address lies in a designated high fire hazard area; the city offers bilingual defensible-space evaluations; county Fire Safe Council partnerships can help neighborhoods form Firewise communities that sometimes persuade insurers to reconsider nonrenewals; and some neighborhoods with a local wildfire suppression assessment district receive collection and chipping services.
Why it matters: Santa Barbara’s topography and coastal/foothill microclimates create varied wildfire risks. The CWPP and the Parks–Fire collaboration will affect how the city treats vegetation in open space, the appearance and use of some preserves, and how residents in high-hazard zones are advised and served.
Commissioner questions and staff responses: Commissioners pressed for options to help homeowners who lose insurance and were told a Firewise designation or neighborhood mitigation can help; staff acknowledged private insurers use proprietary risk models that do not necessarily match the city’s hazard mapping. Commissioners also asked about coordination with Elings Park, vehicle access (fire apparatus types), and how fuel-treatment work is staged to avoid unnecessary removal of habitat; DeJulio and parks staff said the city advises and consults with private owners like Elings but cannot compel them to follow city practices.
Next steps: Staff said grant-funded work is ongoing in Douglas Family Preserve and Parma Park; the newly formed vegetation management crew will continue to implement mosaic treatments, and parks and fire will keep coordinating work plans and public outreach.
