MontecitoFire
By the Montecito Fire Department
Updated News Release – Issued 1:00 p.m. Feb. 26, 2023
Preliminary investigation into the cause of the structure fire at Montecito Fire Station 92 on Saturday, February 25, 2023, determined that the fire started in the firebox of the fireplace in the dayroom of the fire station.
Fire investigators determined that the fire extended out of the firebox and into the wall behind the firebox. Smoke and flames then traveled up the wall from the first floor to the second floor and into the attic. To bring the fire under control, firefighters were required to cut open affected walls of the fire station. As a result of the fire and subsequent fire attack, Station 92 sustained considerable damage to the dayroom, an upstairs bedroom and bathroom, the attic and the chimney. The total cost of the damage is being calculated.
While the fire station is being repaired, Montecito firefighters will be housed on-site at Station 92 in a temporary, mobile housing unit. Montecito Fire Department thanks Anthony Borgatello with All Clean Emergency Services for quickly assisting us with establishing temporary housing so that we can ensure the entire fire district remains covered for emergency response.
Original News Release – Issued 9:00 p.m. Feb. 25, 2023
At approximately 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, February 25, 2023, on-duty firefighters at Montecito Fire Station 92 noticed the smell of smoke in the building and conducted a search to find the source of the smoke. Light smoke was filling the first and second floors of the fire station at 2300 Sycamore Canyon Road.
Firefighters at the station called for a first-alarm structure fire response and brought the fire under control within an hour. Firefighters were challenged by fire extension into the walls on the first and second floors of the fire station, as well as the attic. The extent of the fire’s damage required extensive overhaul work by firefighters. The origin and cause of the fire is under investigation.
Cold Springs Road at Sycamore Canyon Road was closed during the emergency response. It has since reopened.
More than 40 firefighters responded to the fire from Montecito Fire, Santa Barbara City Fire Department, Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District and Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
No one was injured as a result of the fire.
Montecito Fire Protection District is actively making arrangements for temporary housing for personnel on the Fire Station 92 property. There will be no reduction in service to the community as a result of this incident.
Firemen burn wood in a fireplace at their Montecito station? Or was this a gas fireplace? If using wood, of all people, firemen should know how bad wood smoke is for one’s health. It’s absolutely stupefying how ignorant people remain regarding wood burning and wood smoke. Who foots the bill for this extensive damage? The taxpayers.
I’m shocked, honestly. Ridiculous and anti-message. And at taxpayer expense! What a mess, what a clown show.
It happened to us while burning wood in a Swedish fireplace fire box. The box accumulated creosote over the years. One day it caught on fire. Fire and embers traveled to the roof. Lucky us, it was raining, roof was soaked. The fire instead traveled through a wall and ended up as a scorch on a window sill (a little reminder to get fireplaces and chimneys cleaned).
RED CREEK: Or maybe not burn wood and thereby help maintain better air quality.
Taxpayers to the rescue again…
Two points were raised in my mind by this. First, why does the fire station require a fireplace? Is that not a design element not required in a dormitory setting? Second, why did it require 40 fire fighters? That number seldom, if ever, show up at civilian fires. And they all sign in to get additional hazard pay for fighting the fire.
Here is how fire in the fire dept started.
The pretty chimney cap was a non allowed part.
It contained the smoke, fed it into the inside of chase via the double wall cooling system, and cooked the chimney from the inside out.
Big news, the Int Fire Codes require the removal of such caps.
Bigger news, the Int Fire Code requires the removal of every pretty chimney shroud in SB County.
None were ever legal, approved parts, but people did it anyway.
Google
‘How shrouds cause chimney fires’
Shroud chimney fire inspectapedia.com