Kudos to all the firefighters and other personnel who worked so hard to get the Lake Fire under control and prevent it from spreading more.
The 38,000-acre fire patchworked its way through the forest, left homes (but not property) relatively unscathed, kept campgrounds and trail systems fairly intact, and didn’t turn into the megafire that everyone thought it might. We are lucky to have a forest managed with wildfire prevention in mind and such capable fire personnel on the teams that put the fire in check.
With the currently raging Park Fire in full view thanks to media outlets across the country, it feels good to know that close to home, we made it out of the burning flames relatively whole—even though we are arguably only at the beginning of a long fire season. That Northern California fire had burned more than 385,000 acres across four counties as of July 30, closed Lassen Volcanic National Park, and destroyed 192 structures (residential, commercial, and otherwise), according to Cal Fire.
More than 5,500 personnel were manning the fire, which was 14 percent contained. It’s heartbreaking to think that an individual started the fire by allegedly rolling a burning car into a ditch—putting the lives of thousands in danger and in limbo, changing some forever. And so close to the Paradise Fire’s scars—so close that an evacuation warning was issued to the town that’s still traumatized by the devastation wrought in 2018.
As the U.S. Forest Service worked to put parts of Los Padres National Forest back together in the mountains above Los Olivos, the forest was simultaneously battling another blaze, the Apache Fire, off Highway 33. It was 80 percent contained as of July 30 with 1,500-plus acres burned.
The systems that mobilize into place when emergencies bear down on us are beyond my comprehension, kind of like what it takes to clear out multiple encampments in the Santa Maria Riverbed. Dump trucks; SeaTrains; waste cleanup companies; shelter beds; housing; extended families; sheriff’s deputies, social workers; health care workers; nonprofits; government agencies from two counties, a city, and Caltrans; elected officials—all working in unison to accomplish something that seems impossible.
They aren’t just collaborating to clear out several homeless encampments that commuters watched grow bigger by the day from Highway 101. Although, that arguably will have the largest aesthetic impact on those who didn’t live there. This group of collaborators aims to provide services that may (or may not) help some homeless individuals find a way to start fresh.
And the plan that’s now being enacted, according to Santa Barbara County 4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson, took nine months of work. Nine months of work and potentially half of a $6 million grant to move 110 to 150 people living in the riverbed and all of the stuff they’ve amassed with the goal of sheltering them and wrapping services around them.
That’s wild. It would be even more wild if people don’t return to the riverbed. Even though Nelson said there will be enforcement in the areas that have already been cleaned up. But for how long?
Forever is what it would take. Because our system has too many holes. And some individuals slip right through them.
The Canary is feeling jaded about homelessness solutions. Send fix-it-quick ideas to canary@santamariasun.com.