Anonymous
Update by Santa Barbara City Fire Department
On Tuesday morning at approximately 00:47 hours, the Combined Communications Center was notified of a fire at 500 West block of Figueroa St. Santa Barbara City Fire Department responded 3 fire engines and 1 Battalion
Chief to the scene. The first arriving engine company reported a vegetation fire burning along the railroad fence, several large palm trees and a vehicle fire. Firefighters were able to control the fire quickly. The fire totaled approximately 1 acre in size and damage was estimated at approximately $20,000. Homeless encampments were in the area.
Santa Barbara Police provided traffic control. Railroad travel was temporarily stopped during the incident. No injuries to firefighters or civilians were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Santa Barbara City Fire Department and Police Department.
By John Palminteri of KEYT News
Santa Barbara City firefighters were called out at 12:46 a.m. for a very visible vegetation fire on the Westside near Figueroa and Walnut Streets.
Firefighters also found a vehicle on fire and residents attempting to stop the growing flames.
Three engine crews were assigned to the fire. Santa Barbara Police officers were also assisting to attempt to locate anyone who may have been responsible.
Amtrak and Union Pacific trains were stopped while firefighters accessed the burning vegetation near the train tracks.
Since Friday there have been a series of suspicious vegetation fires in the railroad corridor in the same area. The cause of this fire is under investigation.
More information can be found at KEYT.com.
The source of the fire may be under investigation. However, I think we all know the root cause of these fires by this point.
C’mon Chip, we obviously don’t have unlimited resources to clearcut every possible fire source, nor would we want to live in a city that has zero trees. We all know the problem: allowing people to camp out and start fires where they want.
I’m not advocating for removing all the trees. In fact, I want to save them. These fires tend to kill all the large trees they burn. Pruning and clearing brush removes ladder fuels and protects the larger trees. As far as cost goes, I can’t believe that maintenance is more expensive than a the cost of these constant emergency responses. On top of that, consider the property damage. In the case of the last couple of fires, it was limited to a few cars. However, imagine what it will cost when one of these fires catches the wind and starts burning neighborhoods. I think maintenance would be a much cheaper option.
I know it seems dangerous and peculiar, but this is how we choose to manage public spaces in our community. We don’t believe in hiring tree and landscape services to clear ugly overgrown and dead vegetation. Instead, we rely on unplanned fires to maintain our public landscapes. We could hire professionals to prune the trees and clear the brush so these fires don’t happen anymore. However, these daily fires have become tradition of sorts that contributes to the special character of our community.
BasicMisInfo to the brainhobbling fail again!
Chip is delusional here. These are bum fires, not vegitation fires. Yes it would be nice if you could force a private company (UP) to clean their property, but the real issue is our lame ass mayor doing nothing about the bums all over the place trashing out town. Fires dont start themselves and the stats would say the fires aren’t started by many other sources outside of bumcamps.