Tag archives: Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade

Bucket Brigade
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 21, 2023

Back in 2018, when the Montecito debris flows left huge swaths of the village buried under hundreds of tons of mud and other detritus, the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade (SBBB) was all over the news. The first responders had moved on, and the job of digging out was just beginning. Nearly every outlet around ran […]

Successful Storm Preparation 
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   August 29, 2023

As Tropical Storm Hilary threatened to bring significant rainfall to Southern California and into Santa Barbara County this past weekend, Montecito Fire Protection District remained in close communication with National Weather Service partners to determine how Montecito may be affected. In response, a sandbag filling station was set up at Lower Manning Park for community […]

Raising Our Light
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   February 7, 2023

A community-wide event was scheduled on the evening of January 9, 2023, to commemorate the five-year anniversary of the 1/9 Debris Flow; the event was canceled by organizers a few days prior, as Montecito prepared for a significant storm event that would eventually lead to an evacuation of the entire community.  This past weekend, Bucket […]

Montecito’s 2022 Year in Review
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   January 3, 2023

Project Progress Highway 101 Widening Project  The long-awaited widening project from Carpinteria to Santa Barbara was discussed at length in 2022, with countless meetings to discuss design, construction, timing, and other details related to the addition of a third lane through Montecito.  The Montecito segment of the project (called 4D) includes widening 1.4 miles of […]

Walk Montecito
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   April 12, 2022

The Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade is launching a new campaign this week, aimed at raising funds for Walk Montecito, a project that will ultimately create eight miles of roadside walking trails throughout Montecito. “The project reflects our commitment to long-term recovery from the Thomas Fire and Debris Flow, and our mission to build both community […]

‘Four Years Later, We Remember’
By Sharon Byrne   |   January 18, 2022

On January 9, a community-building memorial was held across Montecito to remember and honor the victims and survivors of the 1/9 Debris Flow. A partnership between the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade, Montecito Association, Montecito Fire Protection District, and Westmont organized the event — and it followed the template the organizations created in 2021, for safety […]

Bucket Brigade: Building a Foundation for Local Resilience
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 13, 2022

The Santa Barbara coastal region has largely escaped any major disasters in the past year, save, of course, for the ongoing crisis with COVID-19. There haven’t been any major fires striking between Carpinteria and western Goleta, and no serious flooding despite the recent record-setting string of rainstorms.  On the other hand, some folks out by […]