Edhat Staff
Update by the edhat staff
July 6, 2023
County firefighters confirm a vegetation fire off Highway 154 last week was due to a homeless camp.
“Santa Barbara County Fire Investigators determine that the fire was caused by a transient encampment fire that spread to the adjacent vegetation,” said Captain Scott Safechuck.
The fire was located on the westside of Highway 154 and Cathedral Oaks Blvd. It sparked on Thursday, June 30, and grew to about 1/8 of an acre before being extinguished.
By the edhat staff
June 30, 2023
County firefighters responded to a brush fire near the Highway 154 onramp in Santa Barbara late Thursday evening.
At 11:33 p.m., crews arrived on the westside of the highway near Cathedral Oaks Blvd. Santa Barbara County Fire sent three engines and Santa Barbara City Fire sent one engine to assist.
Captain Scott Safechuck stated the fire started near a homeless encampment and spread to about 1/8 of an acre.
The foward progress was stopped at 11:56 p.m. Crews remained on the scene for another hour to mop up.
The official cause is under investigation.
It’s not as if we don’t have enough accumulated data on the combination of drugs, alcohol use and fire.
We can be empathetic to the homeless and still require the same level of behavioral standards we apply to the housed when it comes to fire
It’s just a matter of time before one of these fires gets out of control and burns down 100 houses.
So why can’t I, who actually knows how to make a fire, and manage on, make one wherever I want?
Oh yeah, it’s called the law.
SBPD should try actually enforcing it fairly for once.
Names, charges, pictures. The whole thing we pay them for.
County Jail does not have the room. They have it on lockdown because they have people doing up to three year prison terms now. It’s reportedly in a contract with the State of California. I heard that on a show on KZAA-lp 96.5 FM Called “Your Life in Prison.” The medical is contracted out now. The Meals are contracted out now. The inmates have very little mobility within the county “prison” as I understand.
Everyone knows the encampments are a threat, that the fires the bums set have the potential to get massively out of control, that their squalid camps are filled with stolen bicycles and yard furniture, that trash and feces fill the nearby brush. The Government is happy to fund the staff of Homeless, Inc. and waste our tax dollars on “engagements” with the squatters trying to convince them to come into shelters paid for by tax dollars. Fentanyl and meth and alcohol, these law-breaking thieves have no place on the margins of society. Bring back asylums for the insane.
Get the violent homeless bums out of our town. I have been assaulted by one and look forward to seeing him again since he cold cocked me at Joe’s. California has 1/3 of the national homeless population. I have had it. Let’s help the families displaced by a loss of a job or women in a violent domestic relationship. For you who downvote, I hope you get physical assaulted by a vagrant like I did.
Hot dry weather is just around the corner. All outdoor fires should be reported immediately ! …. and yes, can the police at least ticket and keep track of the repeated offenders PLEASE
The Paint Fire started on June 27th 1990. One of the worst days of my life. Luckily this fire wasn’t started on a hot windy day. The State of California does not care about transients, neighborhoods nor the fires that begin in encampments. State legislators are doing everything they can to make us less safe. Increased density in the wild land urban interface, rampant homeless encampments allowed to be wherever they choose and no consequences for bad actors. God forbid we hold accountable those who break the law. The county has slated to accommodate 200 new housing units where this fire was, an area that has burned at least 5 times in the last 30 years.
We’ll said 777 and 5:52, all that rings true. Some people will never get it.
That area next to onramp adjacent to mobile home park, I wonder is Phil Michel still living in the bushes. His brother was ran over on the 101 under the overpass.
OMG, that is a total surprise! The homeless camp started a fire! That’s a first. I’m sure it was a mistake.
I’m sure our government has it all under control.
Sarcasm. Or blind trust in our failed government & law enforcement.
Poor excuses about full jails & that’s why they do not enforce laws.
But then again that’s our government. No planning, no progress, just excuses & finger pointing.
Bunch of children not taking responsibility for the growing homeless, humanitarian crisis.
Millions spent researching why people are homeless but zero progress over the decades.
Corruption? Perhaps.
Either way it’s our governments fault & we need new ejected officials & fire the existing managers.
Didn’t we just put up a new jail? If it’s not one of those luxury things like the newer apartment dorms at UCSB, where is the capacity? Also, since those who set these fires are a terrible danger to the rest of us, use that 5 acres for fire-starter’s tents, put a chain link, barbed wire fence around it and make it a patrolled camp with dumpsters and port-a-poties, a shower truck and meals twice a day. Keep them confined until fire season is over.
I like your idea, until I remember that we don’t incarcerate people without due process. Or we aren’t supposed to, anyway. But managed camps may be a possibility. We are obviously allowing camping, so maybe we need to manage that a bit better, make spaces where fires won’t travel.
ZERO Tolerance ! NO ONE should be allowed to make a fire without suffering the consequences. The threat of wildfires is far too dangerous for all of California 🙁
I don’t see any law enforcement either
Although I always report suspicious activities, there seems to be an “every man for himself” attitude of people who answer the phones. I once suggested that maybe I should carry a firearm and the person agreed !!! Laws ?? What laws ?? Where ?? I don’t see a law – do you see a law ??