Start by requesting a Defensible Space Survey with a Montecito Wildland Fire Specialist. A property owner’s preparation for wildfire starts with hardening the home using fire-resistant building materials and maintaining adequate defensible space around the structure. It is the homeowner’s responsibility to prepare the home for wildfire which history shows will happen again. 

Structure or “home hardening” entails using construction material that can help your home withstand flying embers. This includes relatively inexpensive and easy-to-implement mitigation measures, such as screening exposed vents with 1/8-inch mesh screening, maintaining tree branches away from the structure, and keeping the home's roof and gutters free of debris.

• Montecito Fire Department partners with the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council to increase fire safety across the county. Check out this interactive Wildfire Home Hardening Guide which describes ways to improve a home to make it more resistant to wildfires.

Visit the Wildfire Home Hardening Guide

The best chance for a home to survive a wildfire is to prepare the structure to “stand alone,” meaning a fire can burn through the area and cause minimal damage to the home without any firefighting action. To achieve this, a homeowner must implement building techniques to stop embers from entering the home and/or landing in receptive fuel beds near the house, such as combustible landscaping, or patio furniture. Hardened structures are over three times more likely to survive a wildfire.

• The Home Hardening Assistance Program is an innovative initiative designed to strengthen wildfire resilience for homes in Montecito. The program aims to harden and retrofit homes by offering financial assistance for targeted improvements, reducing the risk of wildfire damage and protecting both property and lives. Backed by an annual allocation of $60,000 from the Montecito Fire Department, this program underscores our community's commitment to wildfire preparedness.

Apply for the Home Hardening Assistance Program

We encourage you to apply for The Home Hardening Assistance Program. This program is an innovative initiative designed to strengthen wildfire resilience for homes in Montecito. The program aims to harden and retrofit homes by offering financial assistance for targeted improvements, reducing the risk of wildfire damage and protecting both property and lives. Backed by an annual allocation of $60,000 from the Montecito Fire Department, this program underscores our community's commitment to wildfire preparedness.

Apply for the Home Hardening Assistance Program

Defensible Space is the buffer you create by removing dead plants, grass, and weeds and being thoughtful of the plants added to the property.

• Defensible space greatly increases the odds the structure will survive a wildfire by reducing the fire intensity adjacent to the structure and limiting its exposure to direct flame impingement.
• It also provides firefighters with a safe area to work while trying to protect structures during a wildfire.

Request a Defensible Space Survey

Defensible Space Zones  

Zone Zero: Make the First Five Feet Closest to your Home Ember-Resistant 

• Use hardscape like gravel, pavers, or concrete. No combustible bark or mulch.
• Remove all dead and dying plants, weeds, and debris (leaves, needles, etc.) from your roof, gutter, deck, porch, stairways, and under any areas of your home. 
• Remove all branches within 10 feet of any chimney or stovepipe outlet. 
• Limit combustible items (like outdoor furniture and planters) on top of decks. 
• Relocate firewood and lumber to Zone 2. 
• Replace combustible fencing, gates, and arbors attached to the home with noncombustible alternatives. 
• Consider relocating garbage and recycling containers outside this zone. 
• Consider relocating boats, RVs, vehicles, and other combustible items outside this zone. 

 Zone One: Keep it Lean, Clean & Green Within 30 Feet 

• Remove all dead plants, grass, and weeds. 
• Remove dead or dry leaves and pine needles. 
• Trim trees regularly to keep branches a minimum of 10 feet from other trees. 
• Create a separation between trees, shrubs, and items that could catch fire, such as patio furniture, wood piles, swing sets, etc. 

Zone Two: Reduce Fuels Within 100 Feet of Your Home 

Continue reducing potential fuel within 100 feet or the property line. 100 feet of defensible space is required by law. (Public Resources Code (PRC) 4291) 

• Cut or mow annual grass down to a maximum height of four inches. 
• Create horizontal space between shrubs and trees. 
• Create vertical space between grass, shrubs and trees. 
• Remove fallen leaves, needles, twigs, bark, cones, and small branches. However, they may be permitted to a depth of three inches. 
• Keep 10 feet of clearance around exposed wood piles, down to bare mineral soil, in all directions. 
• Clear areas around outbuildings and propane tanks. Keep 10 feet of clearance to bare mineral soil and no flammable vegetation for an additional 10 feet around their exterior.

Montecito Wildland Fire Specialists conduct Defensible Space Surveys at the request of property owners throughout the Fire District.

• The surveys focus on the structures themselves, the surrounding vegetation, and property access and egress routes.
• After the property visit, a report is provided to the owner explaining the vulnerabilities of the property and specific recommendations to mitigate these vulnerabilities.

Request a Defensible Space Survey

Call 805-969-7762 to report your concern or send us a message on montecitofire.com. An engine company will visit the property to visually inspect it for compliance. If non-compliance issues are found, a corrective letter is sent to the property owner identifying the necessary mitigation actions and a date for a follow-up inspection.

• We appreciate it when residents alert us to potential hazards in their neighborhoods because our engine company can only inspect from the roadway. If a hazard is not visible from the road, we can complete a more detailed inspection to ensure all properties are compliant with our Vegetation Management Development Standards.

Almost all property within Montecito is private property. In the rare event that an area is County property, Montecito Fire Department will partner with the County of Santa Barbara to mitigate the hazard.

The national Firewise USA recognition program provides a collaborative framework to help neighbors in a geographic area get organized, find direction, and take action to increase the ignition resistance of their homes and community and to reduce wildfire risks at the local level. The Firewise USA program is administered by NFPA and is co-sponsored by the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.

• Many neighborhoods in Montecito already meet the requirements of Firewise without realizing it. Montecito Fire Department encourages residents to connect with the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council for help preparing an application. To be eligible, a community must have at least 8 dwelling units (e.g., homes, apartment units) and no more than 2,500 dwelling units.

Learn about becoming a Firewise Community

Please start by scheduling a Defensible Space Survey to discuss with a Wildland Fire Specialist whether your property would be a good fit for a pool pump.  

• Keep in mind that pumps require regular maintenance and during a wildfire, someone must stay to operate the pump in dangerous, potentially life-threatening conditions.  
• If a pool pump has not been regularly maintained and you attempt to get it running during a wildfire, it probably will not work. 
• It is highly unlikely that firefighters will use your pool pump. Firefighters have the necessary tools to pull water from your pool and use it as a water source. Firefighters can pull water from your pool with their equipment more effectively than by attempting to use a resident’s pool pump.  
• The best decision you can make is to evacuate.  
• If you want to invest in wildfire prevention and preparedness, prioritize Defensible Space and Home Hardening. Schedule a Defensible Space Survey to understand the best options for your property.  

No, you do not need a pool placard.

• Firefighters use satellite and aerial maps to see where pools are located. With this information, they can determine if a pool is located in an advantageous and feasible place to pull water from.
• A sign or placard indicating that you have a pool is not necessary, nor will firefighters have the time to look for that sign during a wildfire emergency.

• The professional fire service is a highly coordinated, unified response built upon standards and known factors. This allows us to be successful in emergency situations where there are many unknown factors.  
• Private firefighting services are yet another concerning, unknown factor for professional firefighters to handle during an emergency incident. We will not stop them from doing the work they are hired to do but if they become injured, we then have an incident within the greater incident that professional firefighters will need to respond to.  
• While private firefighting services may have some success in preventing damage to your property, the risks are concerningly high.  
• If you feel strongly about exploring private firefighting services, we urge you to first ensure that you have excellent defensible space and have thoroughly hardened your structure. These two fundamental methods of fire prevention are far safer and provide better outcomes than hiring a private company to attempt to save your home during a wildfire.  

• Keep cell phones and electronics charged.   
• Go home with a full tank of gas. 
• Think through your evacuation routes. Know more than one reliable way to leave.  
• Have a predesignated place where you will reunite with loved ones, keeping in mind that you may not be able to communicate with them during the emergency if phone, internet and electricity are down.  
• Consider using satellite communication devices and backup power units with 110 volts. 
• Organize important documents in a centralized place that is easy to take with you.  
• If you have pets, gather any necessary supplies for them such as food, bowls, leashes, carriers and medication.  
• If you have large animals, review your plan for them and be ready to activate it. As part of your preparedness efforts, consult with Santa Barbara Equine Evac for best practices.  
• If you park in a garage, consider that power may be out when you need to leave. If you cannot open your garage door manually, plan ahead by parking outside.  
• Back into your driveway so you can leave quickly without attempting to back out and avoid potential hazards during a wildfire scenario.  
• Of course, avoid all activities that would create a spark.  
• Avoid activities in the front county to limit the potential need for emergency resources there. Emergency incidents on trails, such as hiking injuries, may deplete firefighting resources for rescue operations. 

• There are multiple methods to access information about wildfires in your area. We encourage community members to:
  • Follow Montecito Fire on social media
  • Listen to AM 1610 radio
  • Check local news media outlets for information
• WatchDuty and PulsePoint apps can provide users with notifications of new wildfires in their specified area.
• AlertWest Camera System is a helpful tool to watch wildfires in real time.
• ReadySBC Alerts may send an incident awareness notification to registered users about a wildfire occurring in the area, however, the system prioritizes sending alerts to people who fall within areas under protective action orders, such as evacuation warning, evacuation order or shelter-in-place. Please make sure you are registered to receive local emergency alerts at ReadySBC.org.
• If you are told to evacuate, the notice will be issued by the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office will enforce those protective actions.

Register to receive local emergency alerts and/or update your contact information for ReadySBC Alerts

• For us to effectively protect the community, we need people to leave.  
• The safest choice you can make is to evacuate and to do so early before you are ordered to leave by law enforcement and fire is imminent in your neighborhood.  
• If you choose to stay, keep in mind that you may be unable to leave for several days and utilities will likely be shut off. This means you may not have power, gas, and limited water. You will need to rely on your emergency supply of water and food.  

• Close ALL windows and doors, including your garage. Too often, people leave in a hurry and forget to shut a window or close the garage on their way out. This leaves your structure vulnerable to ember intrusion and may negate all of your excellent fire prevention efforts.  
• Leave gates open. As part of your preparedness efforts, ensure backup power to your gate is functioning and make sure you have a KNOX key.  

• If there is time, pull door mats, patio furniture/cushions, and anything combustible at least 10 feet away from the structure. 

• Do NOT leave sprinklers on. This further depletes water volume and pressure in the system and will have a marginal impact on preventing fire damage to your property.  

• If you do not have clothes packed in a “go bag,” take your dirty laundry basket. Those items are likely the clothes you wear most frequently.  

• Remember that your safety is most important. Drive cautiously and implement your emergency plan.  

Please leave as soon as you can. There is no need to wait for an evacuation notice, whether it is an evacuation warning or an evacuation order.  

Evacuation Warning

• If your home is under an evacuation warning, this is a good time to go particularly if you have mobility limitations, small children, pets, large animals, or other special circumstances. Leaving before you are “ordered” to go is a benefit to emergency responders attempting to access the area and protect your property.  

Evacuation Order

• If your home is under an evacuation order, leave immediately. This is the last chance to leave, and you may experience challenging road conditions as you evacuate.  

Under no circumstance should you stay home during a wildfire. Attempting to save your home puts you and firefighters at greater risk. 

• There are multiple methods to access information about wildfires in your area. We encourage community members to:
  • Follow Montecito Fire on social media
  • Listen to AM 1610 radio
  • Check local news media outlets for information
• WatchDuty and PulsePoint apps can provide users with notifications of new wildfires in their specified area.
• AlertWest Camera System is a helpful tool for watching wildfires in real-time.
• ReadySBC.org is updated regularly with the latest incident information. Please make sure you are registered to receive local emergency alerts at ReadySBC.org.
• If you are told to evacuate, the notice will be issued by the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office will enforce those protective actions.

Register to receive local emergency alerts and/or update your contact information for ReadySBC Alerts

Jackie Ruiz, Public Information Officer for the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management, talks us through the local emergency alert processes and how you can stay informed.  

Montecito Fire Department’s AM radio station, AM 1610, broadcasts 24/7 with the latest emergency information.

• During an incident, the station is routinely updated with incident information. The AM Radio is a 10-watt, low-power transmitter, and allows emergency managers to prerecord messages and quickly create a broadcast for emergencies. This is not a live broadcast.
• Your ability to hear AM 1610 will vary based on your location due to the station's low-power transmitter and antenna. Your vehicle's AM radio is often the best receiver to use since the low-power transmitters were designed for commuter traffic. 
• If you have internet service and would like to listen to AM 1610, you can stream the broadcast live online 24/7.  

Listen to AM 1610

During an emergency, protective actions may be issued by public safety officials. This is a coordinated effort between fire, law enforcement and the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management. Commander Brad Welch with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office explains the three protective actions we use in our community and what to do.

Evacuation Warning

Evacuation Order

Shelter In Place

It is not necessary to know your evacuation zone but it is beneficial to make yourself familiar with your neighborhood and multiple routes you could take to evacuate during a wildfire. 

• The Montecito Fire Department Evacuation Map depicts predesignated evacuation zones for the community of Montecito.

This is an interactive map. Type your address into the map’s search bar to determine which evacuation zone your home is in. It is important to know your evacuation zone in the event of a wildfire or other emergency that requires evacuation.

• It is important to understand that the designated evacuation routes are subject to conditions and may not be available during any given emergency.
• Please make it your responsibility to know every possible route of egress from your location.

Montecito Fire Division Chief of Operations Travis Ederer shows us the Montecito Evacuation Map, explains recent changes to evacuation zones and underscores the importance of leaving early during an emergency incident.

Southern California Edison maintains an Outage Center on sce.com with updated information regarding power outages and Public Safety Power Shutoffs.  

Southern California Edison may temporarily shut off power to your neighborhood during dangerous weather conditions to prevent the electric system from becoming a source of ignition. This is known as a Public Safety Power Shutoff or PSPS. 

• Strong winds combined with dry ground conditions can increase wildfire threat. These same winds can cause vegetation or other items to blow into power lines and could result in an ignition, possibly creating a significant wildfire. PSPS forecasting is based on weather modeling and input from fire scientists and meteorologists using modeling at a 1 or 2 km granularity. De-energization decisions are made based on data from local (pole-top) weather stations in the field and supported by live field observations.  
• Under these situations, SCE may shut off power to customers for safety reasons. SCE considers high winds, low humidity, dry vegetation that could serve as fuel, and public-safety risk before implementing a PSPS de-energization as a tool of last resort. 
• While every effort is made by SCE to notify customers in advance of PSPS events, the sudden onset of unexpected weather conditions may require SCE to de-energize customers with little to no advanced notification to prevent our electric system from becoming a source of ignition. SCE customers can sign up for PSPS alerts in English and other available languages at sce.com/pspsalerts, by updating their alert/notification preferences on their mySCE account, or by visiting: sce.com/customer-service/faqs/alert-preference-center. 
• Watch this video for more common questions about PSPS, inspecting equipment for potential hazards and keeping our communities safe. 

Sign up for PSPS Alerts

During a wildfire, firefighters triage and prioritize structure protection where there are opportunities to safely engage the fire and defend homes. This means your home needs to be able to withstand wildfire regardless of whether firefighters are there. If firefighters are in your neighborhood and your home has excellent defensible space and has been hardened with fire-resistant building materials, they will be better able to take a stand against the fire and protect your property.

• Yes. In advance of Red Flag fire weather conditions, the Montecito Fire Department brings additional firefighters back to work to staff engines, enhance dispatch capabilities, and provide incident command support. This positions us to be on standby to respond to incidents locally and regionally.  
• Additionally, mutual aid agreements provide for the extra staffing of strike teams (groups of five engines) to be prepositioned in high-risk areas and available to respond if a wildfire starts. For example, if dry lightning is forecast to occur over an area with critically dry vegetation, a strike team of engines may be prepositioned in that area to mitigate any fire starts. 

Montecito Fire Department participates in local automatic aid agreements as well as mutual aid agreements with the State of California. Mutual aid is an agreement between fire departments that we will offer help to a community facing crisis and out-of-town agencies will offer support to our community when needed.    

• If a wildfire were to start in the Montecito Fire District, we would activate a predetermined, geographic-specific response plan that outlines the necessary resources for the initial dispatch plus, the additional resources to be ordered as the incident develops.
• Our standard response plan for a wind-driven vegetation fire in Montecito includes a minimum of 14 fire engines, 3 hand crews, 3 dozers, 1 water tender, 1 helicopter, and 2 air tankers on the initial dispatch.
• Within the first few hours of the fire starting, we may have as many as 200 engines en route along with dozens of air resources from local and regional partners as a result of state mutual aid agreements.  

Montecito Fire Department works hand-in-hand with Montecito Water District. MWD monitors our reservoirs' capacity 24/7 and provides MFD with updates on any impacts to hydrants.  

• Eight fully operational reservoirs keep 10 million gallons at-the-ready during fire conditions, and access to regional reservoirs more than doubles this capacity.  Real-time production capability from combined water sources is as much as 15 million gallons daily
• Water District infrastructure is in service, operational, and continuously monitored.  
• Automatic, backup power generators are in place at every pump station and treatment plant to activate instantly upon power failure, averting water service interruptions.   

• 880 public fire hydrants District-wide are maintained regularly in collaboration with Montecito and Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection Districts.  

• MWD staff closely monitors weather and adjusts reservoir levels based on changing conditions. Dedicated personnel are equipped to respond quickly and make system repairs if needed. 

Read more about Water Supply and Fire Protection here

Have a question for Montecito Water District? Call 805-969-7721 or send a message.

Air resources are part of the automatic and mutual aid systems. In Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara County Fire Department Air Support Unit 964 and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Helicopter 308 are automatically available to us.  

• The Quick Reaction Force (QRF) plays a significant role in halting wind-driven fires in Southern California, including Montecito. Funded by SCE ($36 million), the QRF provides three CH47Chinooks, one S76 HLCO platform with a qualified HLCO, and one mobile retardant base (MRB). While Ventura, LA, and Orange County are host agencies, SCE's support extends to all 15 counties within their service area. Notably, this program is the only one worldwide that drops fire retardant at night and can drop more retardant than all air tankers combined during the day. The QRF is housed at Camarillo Airport. 
• Local air resources may respond to incidents in Montecito from Paso Robles Air Attack Base, Santa Maria Air Attack Base, Arroyo Grande Helibase, Santa Ynez Helitack Base, and Casitas Helibase, among others.  
• When high winds are occurring, aircraft may not be able to fly due to safety concerns.  

Yes, Montecito Fire Department utilizes an Early Wildfire Detection Program through three wireless cameras, located at Ortega Hill, Gibraltar Peak, and TV Hill, which provide panoramic coverage of the Santa Barbara County front country as part of the ALERTWest network. The cameras use AI to detect smoke columns and automatically alert fire personnel. This early detection technology gives firefighters a head start on understanding the scope of a wildfire incident and how best to begin suppression efforts.

Watch the AlertWest cameras

Montecito Fire Department takes a proactive and holistic approach to wildfire prevention. We facilitate multiple vegetation management and wildfire prevention programs in Montecito and coordinate with our neighboring fire protection agencies (Santa Barbara City Fire, Carpinteria-Summerland Fire, Los Padres National Forest) to bolster our area’s resilience to wildfire. By focusing wildfire mitigation actions and limiting structure ignitions in the northern reaches of Montecito, the area most vulnerable to a fire coming from the wildlands and entering the community, wildfires have less opportunity to get established within the more populated portions of the District.

Each spring, we partner with our residents to prepare for High Fire Season. The goal of Neighborhood Chipping is to assist our community members with increasing their defensible space. We also encourage fuels reduction to occur along driveways and roadways to provide safer evacuation routes for the community and give first responders efficient access to the area. Additionally, we complete “tag & trim” work by identifying (tag) tree branches that hang lower than 13.5 feet above roadways and removing (trim) the flagged branches.

Learn more about the Neighborhood Chipping Program

Each spring, we remind residents of their responsibilities to prepare for High Fire Season by ensuring their structure and property comply with the regulations set by the Montecito Fire Code. A postcard mailed to all residences identifies a date by which all of the requirements need to be met. These requirements include mowing dead grasses to less than 2 inches, removing dead trees, and ensuring tree limbs are at least 10 feet away from chimneys. After the designated date, Fire Department engine companies visually inspect all properties within the district. If non-compliance issues are found on a property, a corrective letter is sent to the property owner identifying the needed mitigation actions and a date for a follow-up inspection.

Also in the spring, we complete fire hazard abatement projects along 12 miles of community roads and trailheads in the High Fire Severity Zones in Montecito. These areas include Gibraltar, West Mountain, Coyote, East Mountain, Bella Vista, Romero Canyon, and Ortega Ridge roads. A contract crew cuts back grass and weeds adjacent to travel corridors. The goal is to remove vegetation along roadsides to help prevent human-caused, roadside fire starts. In Santa Barbara County, 77% of all fire ignitions occur within 50 feet of the roadway and 22% of all determined ignitions are started by vehicles. The expanded clearance improves fire apparatus access while improving neighborhood escape routes and evacuation corridors in the event of a wildfire.

Montecito Fire Department manages the continuity and density of vegetation in strategic locations to directly increase the safety and efficiency of firefighting efforts during a wildfire. The Montecito Fuel Treatment Network comprises approximately 320 acres of mixed treatments and 900 acres of grazing projects. These treatments are designed to increase the buffer between the wildland areas and the northernmost properties of Montecito.

Yes, the Montecito Fire Department utilizes Prescribed Herbivory or prescribed grazing with sheep in steep, rocky terrain or otherwise difficult-to-access areas to ecologically reduce fuels. Studies show that fire activity decreases where the fuel load, or density of vegetation, has been reduced. Grazing aids in removing vegetation and the animals’ hooves break down finer fuels. Sheep are used in Montecito because they are slightly more gentle than goats and cause less erosion while significantly reducing the fuel load. 

Part of the expansion of the Fuel Treatment Network was to incorporate approximately 920 acres of prescribed grazing. These projects serve as a buffer between the community and the wildland vegetation of the Los Padres National Forest, while also encompassing more remote structures on private land within the treated fuel beds. 

The best chance for a home to survive a wildfire is to prepare the structure to “stand alone,” meaning a fire can burn through the area and cause minimal damage to the home without any firefighting action.

To achieve this, a homeowner must implement building techniques to stop embers from entering the home and/or landing in receptive fuel beds near the house, such as combustible landscaping or patio furniture. Hardened structures are over three times more likely to survive a wildfire.

The Home Hardening Assistance Program is an innovative initiative designed to strengthen wildfire resilience for homes in Montecito. The program aims to harden and retrofit homes by offering financial assistance for targeted improvements, reducing the risk of wildfire damage and protecting both property and lives. Montecito Fire Department will reimburse property owners up to $10,000 for eligible and approved projects from the Home Hardening Assistance Program. 

Apply for the Home Hardening Assistance Program