Anonymous
Update by Santa Barbara City Fire Department
Monday Afternoon at approximately 2:24 pm The Santa Barbara City Police Combined Communications Center received several 911 emergency calls, for a vegetation fire in the 500 West block of Micheltorena St. Santa Barbara City Firefighters responded with three fire engines and one Battalion Chief. Firefighters found a small vegetation fire under the Micheltorena overpass near a residential fence. The fire was quickly brought under control and was contained to less than 1/4 acre in size.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. The Santa Barbara Police Department assisted with providing traffic control. There were reports from the scene of possible juveniles fleeing the area where the fire started.
The 4th of July is next week, we are still in a serious drought, and vegetation is primed to burn. Fireworks are illegal and will cause fires. Please celebrate responsibly and attend the City of Santa Barbara Fireworks Show in the Harbor on July 4th.
By Scanner Andrew
Firefighters are on scene of a small vegetation fire on Micheltorena Street next to the overpass.
That stretch is full of encampments ….trash, tents, empty food containers, all the way down to the South Bound Carrillo fwy exit, and maybe further. Clear it out, just to have it all back there again in a day or two….
Not going to be long before swe see some real damage from one of these fires. Can’t believe we’ve had so much lightning this year!
Just a SMALL BRUSH FIRE in the middle of the city in the middle of fire season. Nothing to see here. How inured have we become to this mortal danger in our midst?
I am shocked at the lack of outrage.
I am shocked that we aren’t hearing from the fire department and their staff at every turn.
I will not be shocked when a 25 square block area burns to the ground. That is only about 150-200 residences housing 250-350, 500? people. You think the city has a homeless problem now, where will those legit residents go in the deadly aftermath? The city and state will apologize and the ACLU will explain that the rights of a transient to a “warming fire” are sacrosanct, and the expectation of a safe neighborhood is moot.
At what point does the CC begin to realize that we are sick and tired and not going to take it anymore?
Is the Surfside incident not a wake up call you bunch of nincompoops? Years of warnings were ignored there, and look at the result-pancake breakfast. Here the warnings have been going on for decades and blithely ignored- Burnt people do not smell like burnt toast. A lot of people will die and there will be handwringing and insurance and A TOTAL LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY on the part of elected officials.
WTH is wrong our esteemed elected officials? You were elected to solve this problem. What is the hold up? General incompetence aside. Millions and millions spent on Homeless Inc. Problem is getting worse. Stop with the “it’s a different problem than before” with every turn of the economy.
The truth is, this is the City’s new”redevelopment” mantra, let the transients do the job of “urban renewal”, developers and architects champing at the bit to build build build, change zoning and go up up up. You think they see the transients as a problem, or is it their solution?