On the night of the Loma Fire on May 20, residents of Santa Barbara’s lower Westside neighborhood watched as the hillside above their homes burned. Many left of their own accord, without any official emergency notifications being sent out that night.
On Saturday, City of Santa Barbara officials held an informal open house at Parque de los Niños to hear the community’s concerns and to address issues surrounding the Loma Fire, as well as those of hillside stabilization and future disaster preparedness.
“I live below Loma Alta. I could see them running,” Christina Gil-Lomeli, a lower Westside resident, said during the open house.
Gil-Lomeli said that although emergency services personnel were aware that the lower Westside neighborhoods were safe from the fire, those living there were left in the dark about what was going on and how worried they should be. She added that she is signed up to receive alerts through Santa Barbara County’s ReadySBC emergency notification system, and that it was a “community oversight” and a “traumatic event” for those who did not receive any messages.
“I saw people carrying their children, carrying backpacks,” she said. “They knew, but we down here did not know.”
Santa Barbara Fire Chief Chris Mailes described the conditions that night as the “perfect alignment” of 50-plus mph “sundowner winds” combined with an uphill-burning fire. Fire burns four times faster up a hill without wind, he said, but on a windy night it can burn 16 to 20 times faster.
Mailes said the department knew that the areas at highest risk were those up the hill and toward Shoreline Drive, and those were the areas where the fire engines stationed to prevent further damage to homes or lives.
“We knew exactly where the fire was going to go,” Mailes said. “It was not going to come down here.”
He said fire officials assess risk with priorities on “house protection” and “life safety,” and that there was little danger to those living in the neighborhoods below Loma Alta, despite the visible shock of a wildfire so close to their homes.
Mailes said crews were able to snuff the blaze because of the state’s mutual-aid system, which he described as “the best in the entire world.” The system allowed the use of 22 engines from Santa Barbara, Montecito, Carpinteria and Ventura to keep the fire from spreading into more high-density areas.
Santa Barbara Police Chief Barney Melekian said this is an opportunity for the city to learn and adjust to provide more clear messaging in the future.
“One area we need to do better with is messaging,” Melekian told Noozhawk before the event. “We knew where the fire was going, but the people down there didn’t know that.”
Melekian said he wanted to point out a distinction between “alerting” and “messaging” in emergency situations. He said that people in the immediate area were alerted by emergency personnel, but those outside of the area of danger were not informed via messaging.
Another issue with emergencies is misinformation and a lack of preparation.
Liliana Encinas, a bilingual outreach coordinator for the Santa Barbara Fire Department and the national program director for LISTOS — a grassroots disaster preparedness program that provides information in 13 languages — said it’s important to get facts from verified sources and refrain from spreading misinformation.
“We go to social media, sometimes it’s inaccurate. Make sure you verify,” Encinas said.
She translated every statement for the community’s Spanish-speaking residents at the event, and she said that above all, everybody who lives in the county should be prepared for emergency situations — including wildfires, earthquakes and floods.
“Just in the past 2½ years, we’ve seen what can happen in our county,” she said. “This year is not gonna be any different.”
Mayor Cathy Murrillo and District 3 City Council representative Oscar Gutierrez attended the open house, along with Public Works Director Joshua Haggmark, who addressed concerns about hillside stabilization.
Haggmark said the hill “does not have any potential” for a Montecito debris flow-type of disaster because the ground and ecology are much different, with Loma Alta held together by a deep root system.
“There is some potential for some debris flow, but that would most likely end up on the road,” Haggmark said.
He said the city plans to preemptively shut down the road ahead of “any rain event” that would be cause for concern.
Public officials advise people to leave immediately if they believe that they are in danger during a wildfire, but if there is no danger to their home, they should stay indoors. They are discouraged from driving or walking toward the scene of any fire, which could put themselves and emergency services personnel at further risk.
— Ryan P. Cruz is a Santa Barbara freelance writer. Contact him at news@noozhawk.com.