The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) rushed to assist the Santa Barbara County Fire Department on Wednesday, January 10, 2018, in response to the devastating effects of an immense rain-triggered mudslide that ravaged Montecito neighborhoods early Tuesday. In order to aid in the search-and-rescue and recovery operations, LACoFD sent a legion of support to Santa Barbara including Swift Water Task Force 2, one Office of Emergency Services Strike Team, two Type-1 Engine Strike Teams and four Canine Teams. Battalion Chief Bryan Wells commended LACoFD personnel for their great work so far on the incident.
Early Tuesday morning, heavy winter rain overwhelmed the region that had not yet recovered from the devastation of the Thomas Fire a few weeks prior. Post-fire debris flows are most common within two years of a fire and are usually triggered by heavy rainfall according to a study of wildfires and debris flows in Southern California by the U.S. Geological Survey.
On Thursday, in a phone interview with National Public Radio’s Kelly McEvers, LACoFD Fire Captain Sara Rathbun described what it looked like on the ground in Santa Barbara, “If you can imagine some of the most pristine, beautiful homes and neighborhoods completely perfect from about your chest height up and then everything below that completely engulfed in mud, that’s pretty much what we’re seeing here. And the freeway looks more like a lake or a swamp in New Orleans than it does the 101 in Santa Barbara.”
Official incident updates are available from CAL FIRE at their website: fire.ca.gov. As of Friday, January 12, there have been 17 fatalities confirmed, with five people still listed as missing. Sixty-five single family residences have been destroyed and 462 damaged by the mudslide. Portions of Highway 101 and 192 remain closed.