Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen is right to be frustrated, as was clear in his July 31 column, “California’s Wildfire Strategy? Cross Your Fingers and Kill the Electricity.”
Public safety power shutoffs are a blunt instrument, and for decades the investor-owned utilities have underinvested in grid hardening, leaving our region more exposed than it should be.
It is important to call them out.
But framing wildfire policy as a choice between “harden the grid” and “kill the electricity” misses most of what keeps Santa Barbara County safer.
As a board member of the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council, I’ve seen firsthand that keeping communities safe requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, with residents, public agencies and utilities working together on many fronts.
Start with Firewise Communities, a national recognition program that has grown substantially across our county in recent years.
Neighborhoods that earn this designation commit to an annual cycle of risk assessment, vegetation management and resident education. It’s an ongoing discipline that gets communities to do the unglamorous work season after season.
Home hardening and defensible space are the next layer, especially “Zone Zero,” the five feet immediately around a structure where even a single ember can ignite mulch, a doormat or a stack of firewood.
Research from the aftermath of California’s worst wildfires keeps pointing to the same conclusion: embers, not walls of flame, destroy most homes. Zone Zero compliance is one of the cheapest, highest-leverage things a homeowner can do.
Landscaping choices count, too. The Fire Safe Council, in partnership with the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, has been training local landscapers on fire-wise native plantings and maintenance, so that the professionals shaping our yards understand fuel loads and defensible space, not just aesthetics.
Then there’s behavior during wildfire season itself. Dragging trailer chains across asphalt, running equipment that throws sparks in dry grass, target shooting in open pastures: these are ordinary activities that become fire starters under the wrong conditions, and awareness campaigns matter as much as any infrastructure investment.
None of this replaces grid hardening. Undergrounding utility lines, covered conductors, better vegetation clearance around equipment: utilities have to keep investing here, and ratepayers deserve accountability for why it took so long.
But we can’t let others off the hook.
This is a shared responsibility. Fire departments, emergency preparedness offices, utilities, individual homeowners and landscapers all have a role, and the county is measurably safer when everyone’s efforts complement one another.
That’s the case the Fire Safe Council makes every day, one home, one neighborhood, one Firewise designation at a time.
One more suggestion, from personal experience rather than committee work: consider battery storage.
Since installing a home battery system, I no longer dread the words “public safety power shutoff.” When the neighborhood has gone dark, it’s a genuinely freeing feeling knowing I’m powered by energy stored from my own, quiet and nonpolluting solar panels.
Shutoffs are going to remain a fact of life for a while, so solar with storage is one of the more satisfying things you can do.
Santa Barbara County residents who want to get involved, whether that’s pursuing Firewise status for their neighborhood, getting a defensible space assessment, or connecting with fire-wise landscaping or home hardening resources, can reach out to the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council directly.