Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade’s youth leaders gathered at Elings Park this week to prepare for the challenges of an anticipated Super El Niño.
Some of the county’s most highly-trained student resilience leaders attended the four-week Bucket Brigade Academy (BBA) to learn skills to protect homes from wildfires and put the finishing touches on their leadership skills.
“With a potentially record-setting Super El Niño growing in the Pacific, the risk of fires, floods and debris flows has never been higher,” according to the Bucket Brigade. “These student leaders are here to do something about it.”
“It’s all about building agency,” said Charlie Palmer, 19, academy director. “When I was 10, the Montecito debris flow swept through my community and flooded my backyard. I desperately wanted to help my neighbors, but I didn’t know how. That’s why we’re here at the academy.”
Starting early Monday morning, the student leaders deployed as a team, armed with weed wackers, Pulaskis, saws, McLeods, and other firefighting tools, to reduce fuels and create defensible space to protect homes on the Mesa in Santa Barbara.
By removing invasive, highly flammable weeds, they created a firebreak to protect the neighborhood from the threat of wildfire.
Students also studied home hardening, learning about their home’s vulnerabilities; and developed risk mitigation plans to help keep their families and their neighborhood safe.
During the afternoon heat, the students completed the FEMA ICS-100 course on the Incident Command System to better understand how the community can work together safely in a crisis.
Major natural disasters in the U.S. and around the world are becoming more frequent and destructive, the Bucket Brigade reports, with nine of the largest wildfires in California history having occurred in the last decade.
“We’re all too familiar with natural disasters here in Santa Barbara,” Bucket Brigade leaders said. “Unfortunately, our disaster risk is significantly higher this year due to the Super El Niño growing in the Pacific.”
The El Niño Southern Oscillation climate pattern is characterized by a warming of the water in the Eastern Pacific that brings hot temperatures and heavy rainfall to the Western United States.
To be considered an El Niño year, surface temperatures must reach half a degree celsius above normal for multiple months. Although predictions vary, it appears that this year the temperature anomaly could reach two degrees or more, according to reports.
This climate pattern greatly increases the risk of fire, flood, and debris flow across California, and with a historically large El Niño on the horizon, said the Bucket Brigade, which is doing what it can to prepare.
“We partnered with Direct Relief to build a new Rapid Response Trailer with all the tools and protective equipment we might need to lead a 50-volunteer team to assist with disaster preparation, prevention and recovery this winter,” said Abe Powell, Bucket Brigade cofounder/CEO.
“This week, it’s about making sure our leaders are trained and ready,” he said.
The BBA is a leadership training program for high school students interested in direct, local community action. It empowers young people to team up and do something about the problem by providing the training, skills, and network of support they need to step into local leadership.
Youth leaders learn how to organize, train and deploy volunteers in the field using the Incident Command System, the same system first responders, humanitarian aid workers, and FEMA leaders use to manage the response to crises and disasters.
“After 145 hours of training this summer, I think I have developed the ability to lead a group of people confidently, and I have found a stronger method of public speaking to help me work with volunteers,” said Arman Khosh-Chashm, Bucket Brigade Academy student.
For more, call Nayari Uribe Diaz, 805-568-9700 or email contactus@sbbucketbrigade.org.