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With High Brush Fire Season Here, Firefighters Urge Caution in Brush Removal Efforts

The 2009 Jesusita brush fire in Santa Barbara County destroyed 80 homes. Investigators say the metal blades of a brush clearing device started the blaze

High brush fire season has arrived.

Thousands of Central and South Coast residents have done brush clearance to decrease brush fire danger on their property, but some are still scrambling to complete the work.

Even with the deadline to complete the work passed, firefighters are urging people to plan work carefully to avoid accidentally starting a blaze in the process.

KCLU's Lance Orozco talks with a Santa Barbara homeowner who lost her house to the destructive 2009 Jesusita brush fire, which destroyed 80 houses after being accidentally triggered by a brush clearing operation.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.