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New Effort Announced To Create Fire Breaks In Los Padres National Forest In Santa Barbara County

(Photo by Mike Eliason, SB County Fire Department)
Firefighters battling Sherpa Fire near Refugio Canyon, in Santa Barbara County in June of this year

The U.S. Forest Service has announced plans to try to stop major brush fires by creating new fire breaks, and improving existing ones in the Los Padres National Forest above Santa Barbara, Goleta, and parts of the Gaviota coastline.

The fuel breaks are intended to make it easier for firefighters to control fires, especially ones which might be moving towards populated areas. The focus will be in the mountains above Goleta, as well as around some mountain communities like Painted Cave, San Marcos Trout Club, and Haney Tract.

The clearing will include the chipping of some vegetation which will be left to decompose. In other spots, it will be burned. The hope is that the project will make it easier to stop wildfires burning from the national forest onto private property.

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.