Installation of the first steel mesh debris-catching net got underway Tuesday in San Ysidro Canyon above Montecito.
The GeoBrugg flexible debris-control net, made by a Swiss company, is strategically positioned with the aim of reducing the impact of future debris flows triggered by intense rains across the Thomas Fire burn area.
The site is about a mile north of San Ysidro Ranch, and the net stretches 70 feet across and is more than 20 feet high in San Ysidro Creek.
The custom-ordered catchment is designed to serve as a force break and better capture debris in the designated high-risk area. It’s designed to slow and catch the rocks and other debris being carried in the sediment heading downstream.
A helicopter pilot, traveling from Paso Robles, helped transport the heavy equipment after the fog cleared up Tuesday afternoon.
It will “take a couple of days” to finish securing the net, said Pat McElroy, former Santa Barbara fire chief and now executive director of The Partnership for Resilient Communities, the private nonprofit behind the project.
Tuesday’s work follows months of permitting and fundraising efforts by the group.
The nonprofit hopes the increased safety from the net will lower the number of properties designated red on the county’s debris-flow risk map that will be affected by storm-related evacuation orders and reassure property insurers, McElroy said.
“We consider this kind of a historic day for us because we are doing something that nobody though we were able to do, which is to place the net,” McElroy said. “We think it’s going to make a real difference in how evacuations are considered.
“We think it’s going to change how many people are going to be evacuated. and hopefully, it can change people’s ability to get insurance that’s not prohibitively expensive,” he continued.
Hundreds of private donors, individuals and foundations are funding the project.
The Partnership for Resilient Communities has spent nearly a year pursuing the $5.4 million project, and has raised $4.5 million so far, McElroy said.
“We are incredibly grateful for the community believing in this project,” he said. “We have a bit more to go in terms of fundraising… We want to see this to its full fruition.”
The remaining challenge is completing the less than $900,000 funding shortage of what is needed to install all six nets, McElroy said.
In December, Santa Barbara County and other regulatory agencies granted the group a five-year emergency permit to install 11 nets in three Montecito creeks, but the group’s fundraising reduced the plan to six debris-catching nets.
The nonprofit group plans to install two nets in Cold Spring Creek, two in San Ysidro Creek and two in Buena Vista Creek, on private land.
Only four debris-control nets are funded so far, and the nets in Cold Spring Creek will be installed next.
The emergency permit requires all work to be done in 60 days, McElroy said.
“We have to have it done by the early part of June,” he said.
The nonprofit hopes to install all six nets now, while construction crews are mobilized because it will be the most cost-effective way, McElroy said.
A wildlife biologist, an engineer and a geologist are supervising the work, monitoring permit compliance and overseeing construction and maintenance, McElroy said.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 9, heavy rainfall on the fire-denuded mountainside sent tons of mud, boulders and debris downhill in Montecito, killing 23 people, destroying and damaging hundreds of homes, multiple bridges and blocking Highway 101 for nearly two weeks.
The destruction occurred weeks after the 281,893-acre Thomas Fire ignited Dec. 4, 2017, near Santa Paula in Ventura County and burned its way above Montecito.
Vegetation regrowth can take multiple years to stabilize Montecito’s severely charred hillsides, and county officials stresses the potential danger of post-fire hazards and potential fast-moving, debris flows during the rainy season.
There’s still a lot of material and other debris in Montecito-area creeks, McElroy said.
“Anybody that tells you this is scoured out hasn’t been up here,” McElroy said of San Ysidro Canyon. “Anybody that tells you there is ‘nothing to worry about any more,’ just take a look.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.