Santa Barbara Fire Safe Lanes

Newsletter – February 2026

Good day, lovers of our paradise. Welcome to our periodic Firewise newsletter, where we introduce one topic pertinent to our neighborhood's Risk Assessment and 3-year Action Plan (on our Resources page). 

Today's topic is our upcoming annual Firewise Gathering. But first…a big shout out!

• Two households we know of have done a spectacular job of keeping their homes/properties (and, by extension, all of us) fire-safe. A big shout out to:
  • Tuck and Ellen Donnelly, who have (a) created a zone zero around their home, (b) replaced truckloads of flammable vegetation with non-flammable natives, and (c) have trimmed trees with dead branches.
  • John and Nancy Benson have installed an amazing Frontline wildfire protection system that uses sprinklers and fire-retardant  (along with a real-time wildfire alert system) to keep their home and property safe from wildfire. The Bensons have also removed highly flammable eucalyptus trees from their property.
  • Have you or someone you know in our community been active in efforts to reduce wildfire risk? If so, let us know.

SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR ANNUAL FIREWISE GATHERING!

• Join us on Tuesday, April 14^th, from 5:00-6:30 pm at the MacInnis-Weiss house at 1404 Las Canoas Lane for our annual Firewise gathering. Snacks and drinks will be provided. RSVP for the event here: Event Registration.
  • The event will focus on evacuation and will feature Mark von Tillow, fire management officer for the Santa Barbara District and Wildfire Specialist, who will discuss the evacuation issues for people in our community.
    • Mark will discuss alerting systems, evacuation routes for our community, go bags, how to monitor re-population, websites with real-time information, and hi-lo sirens.
    • Mark will answer any questions you might have.
  • Kate Furlong, Community Resilience Lead for the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council, will help all members of our community understand how to report how much time and effort each household in our community has put into making homes and properties fire safe. Many things count!
    • Tracking investments helps us measure our impact and progress, makes our community eligible for grants, makes our community look better in the eyes of insurers, helps community leaders make informed decisions about future priorities, and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to being fire-safe.
    • If you want to receive weekly, monthly, or bi-annual reminders to report, sign up below.
  • Meet Gustavo Agredano, Community Wildfire Resilience Associate from the Santa Barbara County Firesafe Council, and make an appointment with him to have a free home and property assessment.
    • Those who have had Gustavo inspect their properties have been extremely happy with his knowledge and expertise.
    • Make an appointment with Gustavo gagredano@sbfiresafecouncil.org or a new home inspector, Alex Vand (avand@santabarbaraca.gov), at the event or before.
•  
• Meet with Allen to sign up for our community’s WhatsApp social app, which provides a secure place for active members of our neighborhood community to communicate during an emergency.
• If interested, Debbie and Allen can also demonstrate the fire shutters they have put on certain (canyon-facing) windows on the outside of their home.
• We will have lots of interactive time for you to meet with these individuals individually to ask any questions you might have.
• RSVP for the event here: Event Registration.

•  We are officially on the map of communities recognized as Firewise communities! If you haven’t done so already, send this confirmation letter, map of our community, and Firewise certificate to your insurance company to see if you qualify for insurance discounts.
• Cal Fire Hazard maps developed by Cal Fire identify areas that fall within very high, high, or moderate wildfire risk categories, as well as show which agency has primary responsibility in each area (federal, state, county, or city). The Cal Fire Hazard Severity Zone Map shows that our community is in a high- or very-high fire hazard area.
• Have neighbors who are not yet members of our community? Have them let Allen know at amw@marketingprofs.com so we can add them to our community.

    We'd love to know what you thought of today's newsletter so we can improve it.

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