Tag archives: firefighters
Not one to stand by and take accolades, Richie Ramirez, the newly selected Santa Barbara Young Professional of the Year, hosted his award ceremony and the club’s monthly mixer at his shop to raise funds for the SB Firefighter’s Alliance. Said Richie, “I’m very honored to have received the award for SB Young Professional of […]
It was third time lucky for Montecito society doyenne Beverley Jackson when she threw her annual firefighters benefit bash. Because of the Thomas Fire and the devastating mudslides, bubbly Beverley had to cancel two other dates at her oceanside home, but more than 80 guests turned up with toys for needy children at the hastily […]
I believe you are off on this one (“Who Should Pay?” MJ #24/7). Most of the merchants I spoke with were paying their workers at least part of their wages. You might want to call around. After all these years, you would think a business could protect workers from their losses. I don’t want to […]
“Eye in the Sky” was a big hit for The Alan Parsons Project, reaching No. 3 on Billboard’s chart back in 1982. Thirty-five years later, drones – something the British rocker and producer famed for his early work with The Beatles and Pink Floyd hinted at but probably didn’t fully anticipate – proved especially helpful […]
GUEST EDITORIAL by Harry McMullan (Mr. McMullan wrote the following to the Santa Barbara Fire chief, Santa Barbara County sheriff, and all five County supervisors.) My wife and I are residents of Montecito, and we appreciate beyond words the inspiring work of all the firefighters and other first responders who so selflessly and brilliantly saved […]
Former Oscars emcee and TV talker Ellen DeGeneres put the generous in her name when she hosted local firefighters to a bash at her Montecito home, Villa di Lemma, to thank them for their help during the Thomas Fire. Ten members of Strike Team 2040A from various departments in Contra Costa County and three fire […]
Please, let’s keep as many boulders that have clobbered our community as possible; place them someplace in Montecito (Manning Park, Toro Canyon Park, the Cold Spring area, the lot we traded with the Y next to MUS) and build a big, big awesome (think Awahnee) community stone house recreation center. Have several big outdoor stone […]
Thousands of firefighters, utility crews, contractors, and rescue workers have been working around the clock following last week’s deadly mudslides in Montecito. Now considered a search and recovery mission, three people remain missing as of press time; 20 people have perished, and the majority of Montecito residents remain under a mandatory evacuation as crews search […]
(photos courtesy MFPD chief Chip Hickman) Most in Montecito have no idea how close we came to community decimation two weeks before Christmas. At 6 am Saturday, December 16, 2017, sundowner winds of 30 mph, gusting up to 60 mph, drove the Thomas wildfire, the largest in California history, past the firefighter containment lines on […]
“You’ve got a big-ass fire headed straight your way,” was the salty salutation I heard when answering the phone. The caller was William J. Myers, a lifelong family friend and veteran retired firefighter known more familiarly as Bill. I was a bit perplexed, as the only fire I had heard about at the time was […]
I have a couple ideas to help our local economy in regards to the recent tragic Thomas Fire. My suggestion is to have a Holiday Re-Do on February 25. This gives all the businesses, companies, nonprofits, clubs, and individuals an opportunity to re-do their parties and events that were canceled due to the Thomas Fire. This […]
We only had a little over an hour with Montecito Fire chief Chip Hickman, as he had to escort some of the people who’d lost their homes back to their property, but we made the most of our time. No Montecito firefighters were lost or even hurt throughout the ordeal. There was one death, that […]
What a ride this has been for us all. While we are not yet out of the woods of what will probably turn out to be the worst wildfire in California’s history, I write this letter with a cautious sense of optimism. There are still over 8,000 firefighters on this fire. On 12-hour shifts, there […]
On a personal note, I have a great deal to be thankful for. Great firefighters, good friends, and the kindness of Mother Nature. This is the third time I have endured a mandatory evacuation, having experienced the Tea, Jesusita ,and now the Thomas fires in my 10 years here. I fled our rarefied enclave for […]
Last edition, the cover of Montecito Journal boasted the line “Saving Montecito”, with a photo of a Montecito fire truck at Station 1 on San Ysidro Road. Little did we know that roughly 48 hours after the newspaper hit stands, Montecito firefighters – along with thousands of others from across at least seven states – […]
At 10 am on Tuesday, December 12, dozens of Montecito firefighters and personnel gathered at Fire Station 1 for a morning briefing on the Thomas Fire, which, as of press time, had burned 234,200 acres and was 20 percent contained. For more than a week, MFPD has been operating in an “all-hands-on-deck” mode, meaning 24-hour […]
A virtual army of nearly 6,500 firefighters, along with 30-plus helicopters, various other aircraft, fire trucks, bulldozers, and more are, as we write this, working in the back country, mostly out of sight, securing fire lines and control points by a combination of controlled backfires, soaking unburned vegetation, creating breaks where no dry foliage is […]
