
Our Story
On June 27, 1990 a wildfire started near the intersection of Highway 154 and Painted Cave Road. When it was all said and done the Painted Cave Fire had burned 5,000 acres, destroyed 427 buildings and killed one civilian while she was trying to flee the wind driven fire along San Marcos Pass Road. The following year the East Bay Hills fires near Oakland, California killed 25 people, destroyed 2,843 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units. These fires caused fire officials across the state to reassess their communities’ risk of wildland fire.
In 1996, Montecito Fire Chief Herb McElwee introduced several local individuals to a group in Sacramento that was creating a funding mechanism for wildfire hazard reduction and education to assist local groups statewide. The overall objective was to strengthen the bond between the fire services and the private sector through community organizations statewide. Chief McElwee felt residential community leaders had information which was important for fire authorities to hear and the government had the resources to expedite funding for dealing with the ongoing threat of wildfire in the wildland urban interface areas of Santa Barbara County. And so, in 1997, the Santa Barbara Fire Safe Council was born with the same mission it has today; to promote wildfire safety throughout Santa Barbara County through education and action.
Click HERE to view the Bylaws of the Santa Barbara Fire Safe Council, a California public benefit corporation.
What We Do
PROVIDE EDUCATION AND PROMOTE COMMUNICATION
The Fire Safe Council meets once a month at the Office of Emergency Management in Goleta. Every other meeting includes a presentation from an expert on local issues such as fire ecology, fire behavior, vegetation management, habitat restoration, infrastructure improvement, weather services, and emergency planning. The goal of the meetings are to provide relevant information to the local citizens and offer a platform for community members to become part of the solutions to the challenges fire poses to our wildland urban areas.
SUPPORT COMMUNITY EMERGENCY PLANNING
Fire Safe Councils have always been successful in receiving funding through state and local grants. Recently, the council has focused a large portion of our funds towards the creation of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP’s). CWPPs represent the best opportunity to address the challenges of the wildland urban interface in a way that brings about comprehensive and locally supported solutions. Through grant funding and leadership, the Santa Barbara Fire Safe Council assisted with the development of the Eastern Goleta Valley/San Marcos Pass CWPP in 2018 and in 2020 received funding for the Gaviota Coast CWPP.
CREATE FIRE ADAPTIVE COMMUNITIES THROUGH MITIGATION ACTIONS
The Fire Safe Council offers residents an avenue to learn from professionals on how best to mitigate the threats of wildfire to their individual properties. These avenues include the “walk and talk” program where local fire officials walk neighborhoods with residents to identify vulnerabilities and recommend mitigation actions. These recommendations include “hardening” methods to the structures themselves, ways to increase individual defensible space zones, and opportunities for community level fuel breaks. The Fire Safe Council will help neighborhoods coordinate community chipping days as well as guide them through the process to become a recognized FireWise USA site.
Who We Are
JOHN AHLMAN - PRESIDENT
John is a retired City of Santa Barbara Battalion Chief. He was born and raised in Santa Barbara attending all local schools and began his firefighting career In 1965. After a season with the Los Padres National Forest Hotshot crew he was drafted for the Vietnam War. Upon his return he resumed his career with the U S Forest Service. Later, he worked for Montecito Fire Protection District and then moved on to the City of Santa Barbara Fire Department where he retired after thirty five years of service. John has been a member of the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council since 2010.
TED ADAMS - VICE PRESIDENT
NIC ElMQUIST - SECRETARY
KEVIN VARGA - TREASURER
Kevin grew up outside of Pittsburgh, PA. He joined the Marine Corps after high school and was stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA. During his five year enlistment, he served one tour in Afghanistan. Afterward, Kevin went to college at Colgate University in upstate NY. While there, he spent four years in the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department and Fountain Fire Company #1. He majored in geology and geography, which allowed him to study and do fieldwork in Ecuador, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, and the Galapagos Islands. Upon graduation, Kevin worked as a wildland firefighter on an engine crew out of Eureka, NV. This experience helped him realize how much help the American West needed in terms of dealing with wildfire and drought. He decided his next big goal would be to attend graduate school. Before doing so, he spent time as a zero waste coordinator, handyman, brewery server, substitute teacher, and Appalachian Trail thru-hiker. After applying to a handful of schools across the west, Kevin was accepted by UCSB into the Geography Department to study wildfire weather and ecology. He currently works with Charles Jones and Leila Carvalho on projects that identify vulnerable wildfire areas and model wildfire spread. Kevin was selected as Treasurer for the Fire Safe Council in 2020.
RAY SMITH
Ray Smith Ph.D, is Professor Emeritus, retired from the University of California Santa Barbara. He has an S.B. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1956) and a PhD in Physics from Stanford University (1961). After retirement he has devoted considerable time as a volunteer for the Mission Canyon Association, a homeowners association in southern Santa Barbara covering 1,122 acres with roughly 1,200 homes. The initial goal of the MCA (formed in 1948) was to “secure adequate fire protection” and improving fire safety within the canyon has been a continuing concern. As its president, Ray led MCA to work with County Fire to write the Mission Canyon Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) which was approved by the County Board of Supervisors in July 2011. Ray currently serves as the Chair of MCA’s fire committee and was elected to the Fire Safe Council Board in 2010.
ROB HAZARD
MAX MORITZ
PHIL SEYMOUR
Phil Seymour is a retired attorney with 32 years of practice in environmental and land use law. After graduating UCSB in 1974 and before graduating law school, Phil served for 10 years as a wildland firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service, including five years on the Ojai Hotshots, one year on the Tanbark Helishot crew on the Angeles National Forest, and three years as the first crew boss for the Sundowner contract crew. Phil has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council for four years, and served as the appointed SBCFSC representative on the Development Team for the San Marcos Pass/Eastern Goleta Valley Mountainous Area Community Wildfire Protection Plan. He is also currently active with the Wildland Residents Association, the animal rescue organization Bunnies Urgently Needing Shelter (BUNS), and with the Mountain Ember Team in his home community of Painted Cave.
PAUL VAN LEER
Paul has been a Ranch and Farm manager for over 36 years. He has been both a farm bureau director and past president. He also spent years as a Gav-Pac committee member to help craft the Gaviota Coast Plan, and is an active member of the County Agriculture Advisory Committee. In his current position as the manager of Las Varas Ranch, he has had three major wildfires threaten his ranch in 2008, 2016, and 2017. He has always been proactive in protecting the ranch, its livestock, and crops, through building and maintaining fire breaks, staging a dozer, and has firefighting equipment at the ready during the season. He has managed and resided on the Las Varas Ranch on the Gaviota Coast for the last 21 years. Paul was elected to the Fire Safe Council Board in 2018.
JOAN HARTMANN
JOHN POWELL
ROLF LARSEN
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CHRIS SMITH
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We need your help
Support the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council. Become a member, and help us achieve our mission of promoting wildfire safety across the County through education and action.
Our Mission is to Promote Wildfire
Safety in Santa Barbara County
through Education and Action.