Comments by gaviotamilitia
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Posted on November 21 at 11:59 a.m.
Actually the National Weather Service had called for a red flag event several days before the fire. The wind was predicted to blow from the north shifting to the northeast. Santa Barbara County and the US Forest Service had extra personnel on duty because of the red flag warning. Don't know if Montecito or SB City did.
Posted on November 21 at 10:07 a.m.
If this was almost any other type of disaster there would be a post fire discussion as to what could have been done better than what did actually happen. Some call it debriefing. Clearly things did go wrong during the Tea Fire. Now is the time to identify those failings and to adjust pre planning to make sure this isn't repeated. I am not saying this fire could have been avoided, it was clear it would happen some day. But having an organized response, especially
for evacuation and structure protection rather than a make it up as you go response could have saved homes.
1 of 2 people thought this was a good comment.
Posted on November 20 at 4:23 p.m.
The real story of this tragedy may never be told. Let it be said that Montecito Fire Department's response to this fire was pure dismal. Santa Barbara City was little better. It is always hard to put blame on hard working firefighters who risk life and limb to protect the public. Yet the fact is that these departments simply failed to either have an appropriate plan for this type of fire or if they had one, did not follow it. They should have called for all available engines and resources from Santa Barbara County, the US Forest Service, and Ventura County within the first minutes of seeing the fire from Station 2. They could have had an extra 30 engines in the first half hour and over 100 in an hour. Instead they asked for two County brush trucks. None from Ventura and none from the Forest Service. I can understand chaos, been there, done that. But those at the leadership of these two departments failed their men and women firefighters and failed the community. If the community wants to make sure this doesn't happen for the fourth time (this was a repeat of the Coyote Fire of 1964 and of the Sycamore Fire a decade later) they better demand an account of how this fire was responded to during that first night when all the homes were lost. This was not an act of God. It was a very predictable event. Bob
Posted on August 22 at 7:31 a.m.
Actually the County's new policy of allowing developers to hand pick the supposedly independent consultant who will draft the EIR has made the end product useless blather. The latest EIR failure is the Naples Project EIR. Not only was it utterly useless in advising the County decision makers, but the County Planning Commission openly admitted not really reading the useless tome. No developer need fear having to develop an EIR. They just need to make sure it is printed on soft paper as it's main value is as TP.
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Posted on August 22 at 7:15 a.m.
The retail value of this project may reach $500 million unless the market for these low end mansions collapses. That would produce about 5 million in new taxes. Not really that much in light of the financial storm the County is facing with housing values dropping to who knows where. But the threat of existing lawsuits is much more of an incentive for the County to roll over. The reality is that under Firestone the Board has gutted Planning and Development to the point that only a few good people remain. Most are hacks, bottom feeders who eat off that which sinks down from the fat sharks at the top of the Administration.
Posted on August 8 at 8:12 a.m.
Bulldung to any sales tax that goes to the almighty car. We need to tax the carbon coming out the tailpipe, not the folks who don't drive. In Europe they figured this out decades ago. They use half as much gas as we do per GDP. And they live a superior lifestyle. Nothing says it all like a full parking lot at the local gym where folks drive to in order to loose weight. Why not ride a bike and skip the gym?
Posted on August 7 at 7:53 a.m.
Well maybe Mr. Baseballbat needs a 15,000 square feet of house for something other than he and his poor wife. Maybe those 12 flush toilets are for more than two people. They say that the Gaviota Coast had a brothel at Los Cruces at one time. Is this number two?
Posted on August 4 at 10:10 a.m.
GR, there are two prime reasons for the uptick in California fires. Historically we the more we suppress wild land fires the older the brush gets. Older brush is composed of lots of dead wood which is far more flammable than younger brush. So older brush burns hotter and is harder to put out.
But there is a new element at play. Global Climate Change caused by our dumping of huge amounts of C02 and other warming gases into the atmosphere is causing the climate zones to shift towards the poles. In California that means that the Sonoran Desert of Mexico is moving north into California. Northern California gets Southern California's climate. Southern California gets Northern Mexico's climate etc. That is an overly simplistic take but in general accurate. Expect more and bigger fires until what grows reflects the new climate. Deserts don't usually burn.
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Posted on December 26 at 7:47 a.m.
How can this be? A court trumps big money? People actually can be heard? What the hell is happening?
On Suit Against Goleta Water District Upheld