New team joins Santa Barbara City Fire Dept.

The Santa Barbara City Fire Department announced their department will now include a Vegetation Management Crew, in an effort to prevent wildfires. 

The crew will play a large role in the protection of the Santa Barbara community, resources and property. 

This new addition originated from the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, a vegetation management collaboration between the City of Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department and the Santa Barbara City Fire Department. 

Wildland Specialist Mark vonTillow said, “This is the first time that a collaboration of this nature has taken place.”

In fact, the two organizations intend to work on several projects together in an attempt to make their community more fire-conscious and resilient. 

The goal behind these projects are as follows:

• Maintain defensible space in city park land around adjacent homes.

• Maintain and improve fire access roads.

• Vegetation management targeted at deadwood, excessive thatch, high-fire risk invasive species removal, and associated native plant restoration efforts.

• Fuel load reduction in at-risk areas, and

• Community outreach and education around fuels management.