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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. — The Santa Barbara County Fire Department has tentatively scheduled a training burn at 4155 Figueroa Mountain Rd in Los Olivos for May 27. The goal of this burn is to provide live fire training for the certification of instructors to teach CA-219 Firing Operations class and to train new firefighters and Range Improvement Associations on wildland fire behavior. This class is used to teach both firefighters and private land managers to use fire as a tool for both fighting large scale wildfires and to manage prescribed fire being used as a land management tool. Prescribed, or planned, fires typically burn less intensely than wildfires. Prescribed burns can help prevent the spread of wildfires, and can reduce impacts to watersheds that can result in soil loss and sedimentation.
Approximately 5 acres of grassland will be burned. The burn is scheduled to begin in the morning and conclude in the early afternoon. Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) staff have reviewed the Smoke Management Plan and provided conditions to minimize smoke impacts in Santa Barbara County. The burn will be conducted when the meteorological conditions are highly favorable to direct smoke away from population centers.