Tag archives: Thomas Fire
King Charles II was nowhere to be seen when Montecito interior designer Penny Bianchi hosted a bustling Restoration party at her charming Provencal-style home, next door to the sprawling estate of TV talk show titan Oprah Winfrey. The property suffered considerable damage in the mudslides after the Thomas Fire, so much so that when I […]
As we wave the flags and cheer for our kids at our annual 4th of July parade celebrating America’s call for independence, we cannot ignore the reality that we are governed by a county that is totally devoid of local long-range strategic planning for Montecito, including coordination of disparate community efforts. Under the present system […]
As a prelude to Memorial Day and as a way to honor the first responders of the Thomas Fire and 1/9 debris flow, the businesses and merchants of 1187 Coast Village Road joined with Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation (PCVF) last Wednesday to unveil and dedicate a large flag made from actual fire hose. Some 25 […]
by Megan Orloff, President of the Montecito Association & Sharon Byrne, MA Executive Director In January, the Montecito Association welcomed a few new board members, a new executive team, and Board President. Our diverse backgrounds are unified by an ongoing and shared commitment to advocating for our community’s interests, while providing a breadth of skills […]
It’s a U.S. flag that measures seven feet by nine feet, was designed by retired firefighter John Carrillo, and is composed of fire hoses and couplings that were actually used fighting the Thomas Fire. A separate display case holds another smaller length of fire hose containing the signatures of every firefighter involved in fighting the […]
The Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flow on 9 January 2018 devastated portions of Montecito and surrounding communities. The debris flow killed 23 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and commercial properties. As of April 2018, insurance claims total $421.9 million, including 107 homes declared total losses (California Department of Insurance, 2018). Those […]
The Thomas Fire and ensuing Montecito debris flows were devastating to the community. But even worse weather-related disasters could be on the horizon around the globe due to habitat destruction, according to Eric Adler, a longtime Santa Barbara resident and founder of One Season Productions. Adler is making a film on the life and work […]
Many residents in Montecito, Santa Barbara, and in both northern and southern Santa Barbara Counties are receiving non-renewals from their insurance companies, a topic that has been discussed at length in both in-person forums as well as online at NextDoor.com, a neighborhood social media site. Joanne Gonzales, Vice President of local insurance agency Brown & […]
Earlier this month the Santa Barbara Police Department accepted and unveiled a new 32-ft long, 12-ft tall, custom mobile command unit that will be dispatched during community events, emergency situations, and disasters. The $350,000 vehicle was purchased by the Santa Barbara Police Foundation and One805, a local non-profit that was born after the Thomas Fire […]
Last Friday, February 1, nearly 1,500 residents were evacuated in anticipation of a predicted storm that was forecasted to exceed debris flow rain threshold rates in the foothills above Montecito. The storm, which produced the most rain in the early morning hours of Saturday, did indeed hit threshold levels estimated at 1 inch per hour, […]
On Tuesday, January 22, over 100 Montecito residents gathered at Montecito Union School to hear from the Partnership for Resilient Communities, the group of private citizens who have set out to move forward with installing environmentally-friendly Swiss-made steel nets, which catch debris as it comes down the hillsides. “When the events of last year happened, […]
Donors, partners, and supporters gathered at the Santa Barbara Courthouse for an unusual dedication ceremony – a 7-foot-by-9-foot American flag made out of fire hose sourced from the Montecito and Santa Barbara fire departments and used in the Thomas Fire. It was made to honor the First Responders of the Montecito mudslides by retired Santa […]
If you do nothing else this week, pull out your pen and write a check to the Partnership for Resilient Communities, or go to the website (partnershipsb.org) to make a tax-deductible donation through the Santa Barbara Foundation. Contributions can be as low as $10 or as high as $250,000. The future of Montecito may depend […]
Screenwriter/Builder/Designer Les Firestein and former city fire chief Pat McElroy, founders of Partnership for Resilient Communities in Santa Barbara County, established after the Thomas Fire and the catastrophic mudslides a year ago, got priceless publicity, not to mention a $20,000 check, when they appeared on Montecito TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres‘s eponymous Los Angeles […]
Montecito TV titan Oprah Winfrey, Kenny Loggins, and actor Rob Lowe paid tribute to the 23 people who lost their lives and many who lost everything a year ago, as our tony enclave was ravaged by catastrophic mudslides. Oprah, 64, was among hundreds of local residents taking part in the first anniversary vigil, walking from […]
On the first anniversary of its formation, the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade hosted a Montecito Rising bash at the Procore warehouse in Carpinteria for 500 guests. As darkening rain clouds loomed, the VIP reception, scheduled to be outside, was rapidly moved inside prior to the dinner prepared by a host of local eateries, including the […]
Later this week, Montecito Fire Protection District will release a draft amendment to its Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), following lessons learned from the Thomas Fire in 2017 as well as findings from the recently released “A Defensible Community: A Retrospective Study of Montecito Fire Protection District’s Wildland Fire Program During the 2017 Thomas Fire” […]
Last Wednesday, January 9, on the one-year anniversary of the 1/9 debris flow that devastated our community in 2018, nearly 1,500 residents turned out to mark the occasion with a gathering in Lower Manning Park followed by a candlelit walk down San Ysidro Road, culminating at All Saints-by-the-Sea Church. As community members began gathering in […]
Is the drought over for a while?None of us knows.Is water security important?Of course. Is this security worth having your monthly water bills increase a quarter to a third more? If your average monthly water bill is $150, how happy will you feel if it goes to $200 a month, especially during normal rain times […]
The Day The Hill Came Down First, of course, there was the fire. The Thomas Fire, so named because it began on the campus of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula before devouring nearly 300,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara County along with nearly one thousand homes and/or structures. Following California’s cycle of cataclysms, […]
