All 26 crew members were rescued Monday morning after a fire broke out on Platform Habitat, an offshore oil and gas platform roughly 7.5 nautical miles off the Carpinteria coast in the Santa Barbara Channel.
At 6:30 a.m. a fire occurred aboard platform Habitat when platform personnel were conducting decommissioning operations for the platform. The Coast Guard established a 1,000-yard safety zone around the platform as two workers sustained minor injuries.
“The safety of personnel and protection of the environment remain the Unified Command’s highest priorities,” said Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Marler, chief of incident management division for Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach. “We are grateful for the interagency coordination amongst all of our partner agencies during this response.”
Responders and platform personnel reported that the fire was extinguished at 11:40 a.m.
A 45-foot Coast Guard vessel remained on scene late Monday morning as crews from the Ventura and Santa Barbara County fire departments, Santa Barbara City Fire, and Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol worked alongside federal responders to battle the blaze.
Images shared by the Coast Guard showed firefighting boats directing streams of water onto the platform, which was enveloped in dark smoke.
“USCG, SB Harbor Patrol, SB County Fire, SB City Fire & Ventura County Fire are responding to a fire on platform HABITAT 7.5nm off Santa Barbara. All 26 crew evacuated safely. A 1000 yard safety zone is in effect around the platform. Updates will be made as available,” the Coast Guard posted on social media at 11:00 a.m.
Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) said his office is in contact with the Coast Guard. “My office is closely monitoring reports of a fire on Platform Habitat, and we are in active communication with the U.S. Coast Guard to assess the situation,” he wrote on social media, urging commercial and recreational vessels to heed official guidance until the incident is resolved.
Platform Habitat is part of the Pitas Point Unit and was first installed in 1981, according to the City of Carpinteria. The facility primarily produces natural gas that is sent to the Carpinteria Onshore Gas Terminal. Habitat began pumping crude in 1983 and has produced mostly natural gas over its lifetime—more than 232 million cubic feet—along with under 250,000 barrels of crude oil.
Platform Habitat is in the process of being decommissioned.
The Coast Guard stated there are currently no indications of oil being released from the platform into the water and no current impacts to wildlife or the public.
However, environmentalists disagree stating this fire proves how dangerous oil and gas platforms are.
“This explosion is another stark reminder that offshore drilling platforms are inherently dangerous and potentially deadly, even after extraction has ended,” said Brady Bradshaw, a senior oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I’m relieved everyone was safely evacuated. This decades-old platform should have been taken out of the water after its lease expired in 2016. If Trump gets his way and massively expands offshore drilling, we can expect to see more fires, spills and explosions.”
An investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the incident.
At 1:30 p.m., the Coast Guard stated the fire was secured and personnel are being transferred onboard the platform to conduct safety work.
Mariners are advised to avoid the area and comply with the 1,000-yard safety perimeter until authorities declare the scene safe.
Further updates will be provided by the Coast Guard as they become available.
[Ed Note: This article has been updated with new information from the U.S. Coast Guard]
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To be clear: Habitat is not one of Sable’s platforms. Rather, it is being decommissioned and the fire is apparently a consequence of that work.
Oh, but those wind turbines are dangerous and affect the view . . .
Exactly. There really is no real reason to oppose wind projects. The “oil or nothing” crowd is not very smart and perpetually angry so they just hate anything “liberals” might like. I have yet to come across a viable argument against more wind development.
Wind turbines pose a risk to birds and bats, which can suffer injury or death from direct collisions with rotating blades. This can lead to, or contribute to, the decline of certain species. (just like fishing at Surf beach?)
Operation of offshore wind farms can produce high noise levels, potentially affecting marine life, including whales. (uh oh, that’s no good)
They also take 5-10 years to pay for themselves, and wind turbines can catch fire,which can lead to structural failure.
We can do better.
KAPO – the risk to wildlife from offshore oil drilling is FAR higher. The entire lifespan of oil (from extraction, to refinement, to transportation, to end use by consumers) kills far more animals than wind farms do, especially offshore farms. This is a fact.
There are no wind turbines at Surf Beach so whatever you’re insinuating there is 100% false.
As for whales, not a single whale has been harmed by wind turbines. The old myth about those beached whales has been proven false repeatedly.
Everything can catch fire. To think a fire on a single offshore wind turbine would be anywhere close to the risk of an oil platform fire is outrageously ignorant and absurd.
We can do better than depending solely on oil, we’re just not doing it thanks to uneducated thinking like yours.
The question is, can YOU do better than using Google AI to create your arguments? We all know the answer is “no.”
I wasn’t comparting wind to oil (even though in this case it’s natural gas)
You stated the turbines pose no risk, but they do.
I also did not state we should rely solely on oil, or anything about oil.
I think we can find better ways of creating energy other than massive wind farms, sorry you took it differently.
What the heck is comparting? Looking at only part of the problem, and ignoring facts you don’t like?
That would be typical for you. Fossil fuel extraction, whether oil, methane, or coal, is massively destructive.
There is no such thing as creating energy; it can neither be created nor destroyed.
Kaponos post is typical of what smarmy beta male MAGACANS in skinny jeans would write.
That is called a typo. I was not comparing the two – happy?
Again, I was not calling for Fossil fuel extraction, etc. just pointing out the risks of wind turbines.
I was responding to sacs comment “There really is no real reason to oppose wind projects.”
There are drawbacks, and I simply pointed out a few – talk about ignoring facts.
KA LIAR – You need to stop lying.
You have repeatedly opposed wind and cheered for oil here. To say you’re not is a bold faced lie.
My comment is true, but saying “there really is no real reason to oppose” and “there is no risk” from wind is different. You don’t seem to understand that and that is evidence of weak grasp of the English language.
Finally, the “drawbacks” you copied from a Google AI search have all been countered by scientific research and proven to be far less than the “drawbacks” of oil extraction and production.
Facts.
Not sure why you keep falling back on oil here?
I simply addressed your comment, and if you want to oppose the facts regarding wind turbines, that is your choice.
You are correct, I misquoted you on my first post, and corrected it.
The fact is, wind turbines do present a few environmental issues, like it or not.
KAPO – How do you seriously not understand the topic here? You responded to my original comment which (like this article) is about oil (yes, this platform was also used to extract oil) and expressed frustration about those who think wind energy production is somehow worse than oil.
Your comment then went on to spread some debunked myths about wind along with your snide remarks about whales and Surf Beach for some reason, suggesting that oil is not worse than wind.
ALL forms of energy production have some impact, that is just common knowledge. To spread lies and insinuate that wind is worse than it is, is just dishonest and lazy.
sac: you’re seriously asking how KP doesn’t understand something?!
KA LIAR –
1) I understand that you don’t know that the words you copied and pasted from Google AI are, in fact, a way of comparing wind to oil. I don’t expect that level of cognitive and analytical ability from you. But, by discussing the risks of wind turbines, you are comparing the two. That’s exactly how comparing works. ALSO, Platform Habitat (this one we’re talking about) has also been used for oil extraction. Just a fact there for you.
2) I never said wind turbines “pose no risk.” That is a lie. Please try to stop being such a liar.
3) I didn’t say you want to rely solely on oil. I only said that we should not do so. Please try to read with more effort.
Careful, KP, your pants are on fire.
So your comment was useless and you have nothing to say.
Kapono pretends they/them cares about birds all of a sudden. Buildings kill 300 million birds a year. Refineries kill significantly more birds than wind turbines. At least be original with your a$$hat dotard comments
Yet another example of how potentially disastrous accidents on these oil rigs can be for the environment and the people working on them. This would never be problem with offshore wind turbines. Worst case scenario in a fire, some gearbox oil leaks. No personnel at risk, no massive contamination of the surrounding wildlife and shoreline, no toxic fumes wafting onto nearby beachside communities.
If one of those death platforms exploded we would have MILLIONS of gallons of oil washed up onto our shore. As much of a criminal Republican as Nixon was, he did create the EPA following the massive oil spill in Santa Barbara. Pathetic that the orange goblin and the MAGACAN sheeple have been actively dismantling environmental protections.
Again, Sacjon and the rest of you small town folk do not realize how intertwined our world is to Dino Fuel, and how uneducated you are with energy and the creation thereof. I bet y’all use ChatGPT and other similar programs, and you mostly wear synthetics (made of fosil fuel products). Nuclear and hydrogen and something mankind has not discovered yet, could be so much better alternatives. Wind Turbines and solar panels are made of polymer and metal products that do not last forever and need fosil fuels and rare earth minerals to create. Until the next meteprite hits the earth, let us continue to destroy and radically alter the environment and devastate other species, because it is what we humans do. Utilizing thousands upon thousands, maybe millions of acres needed for solar and wind farms, the alledged renewable energy sources, is not the environmental panacea you think.
GETTHE – saying things like “you mostly wear synthetics (made of fosil fuel products)” is indicative of some who is not as smart as they think they are.
More right-wing ignorant con social media garbage.
You don’t get it, at all:
1) You cannot create energy. Ultimately, we only harvest what we get from the Sun. We should eliminate the middleman, as much as possible.
2) “fosil”??
3) Nuclear is hideously expensive, slow to come online, and produces lethal waste. Not discovered yet?? When science budgets are being eliminated?
4) “fosil”??
5) Let’s continue to kill everything around us, ourselves included?
6) How many wasteland acres have been created from fossil fuel extraction?
7) “alledged”???
You obviously don’t mind graphic demonstrations of your ignorance.