About four miles and 3,500 vertical feet uphill from the San Ysidro Trailhead, a Los Padres Forest Association (LPFA) work crew wearing hardhats printed in block letters with their names, are wielding hand hoes. They’re fixing a somewhat crumbling ridge dotted with small bushes and the scorched skeletons of small trees that burned in the […]
As much as my husband, Bob, and I love all our local firefighters, we have a special feeling for this particular member of the team, the reason for which will be revealed as you read down to the finish of the article. Blake was born and raised in Moorpark, California. His single mother, an emergency […]
Recently Trending
More from Montecito
On Tuesday, December 10, the Montecito Fire Protection District marked the retirement of Communications Coordinator Jackie Jenkins, who served MFPD for 21 years. Jenkins began in Public Safety on April 1, 1980, at California State Parks, Pt. Mugu as an YCC Crew Member. At the same agency, Jackie continued as lifeguard and seasonal Ranger until […]
Last Wednesday, December 11, Montecito Association’s Beautification Committee along with Montecito firefighters and kids from Montecito Union School, upheld an over 50-year tradition of decorating the community tree. As mentioned in the Letters to the Editor section of last week’s edition, the festive holiday tradition was born in the early 1960s thanks to then Montecito […]
The standing room-only crowd that filled Montecito Union School’s meeting hall on the evening of December 5 wanted one thing above all else: good news. And by and large, that’s what they got from the group of city, state, and federal officials who presented their latest findings on both the winter weather forecast and the […]
On Monday, October 28, the Board of Directors of Montecito Fire Protection District approved Resolution No. 2019-08, which calls for the establishment of a standing committee to explore mutually beneficial locations for new fire station locations in the jurisdictions of the Montecito Fire Protection District and the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire District. The Committee, called the Fire […]
Paving work began on Coast Village Circle earlier this week; the beginning of a two-month long restoration project to rehabilitate the road following the 1/9 Debris Flow in January 2018. The Debris Flow caused major damage to the roadway on Coast Village Circle due to flooding and the presence of heavy equipment; the project will […]
Since 1994, the Montecito Fire Department has partnered with the community to prepare for the High Fire Season by reducing the density of vegetation along strategic portions of roadways as well as on private property. The intent of the Neighborhood Fire Prevention Project is to assist property owners in improving the defensible space around their […]
At a board meeting on Monday, January 28, the Montecito Fire Protection District Board of Directors appointed a new director: Judy Ishkanian. Ishkanian takes the seat vacated by John Venable, who served for 16 years on the Fire District Board before announcing his retirement in December. Ishkanian will be required to run for the seat […]
Read more...
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” […]
It is more than obvious that 2018 was a pivotal year for Montecito and its residents. The first week of the year, we were recovering from the Thomas Fire, which weeks earlier had suffocated Montecito and Santa Barbara in smoke and ash while scorching nearly 282,000 acres from Ventura to Santa Barbara, including ten structures […]
On Monday, November 27, a Badge Pinning ceremony took place at the board of directors meeting of the Montecito Fire Protection District to honor three recently promoted fire personnel. Rod Walkup was promoted to engineer. He joined the organization in 1995 as a reserve firefighter and was hired full time August 1, 1999. He is […]
Also at last week’s MA meeting, Montecito Fire’s Division chief of operations Kevin Taylor urged the audience to register for our local notification system, Aware & Prepare, following the release of discouraging notification statistics from the County Office of Emergency Management. According to the County, only 12 percent of residents countywide are signed up for […]
On Tuesday, October 30, Montecito Fire Protection District hosted a special awards ceremony at Montecito Union School. The formality was to honor two MFPD firefighters for their courage and bravery during the January 9 debris flow. Wildland specialist Maeve Juarez and firefighter/paramedic Andrew Rupp were each given a Medal of Valor award, which is the […]
