Like oil spills, out-of-control forest fires in Santa Barbara County are not a question of “if,” but “when.” In the past year, Refugio has now seen both, but the Scherpa Fire is unique in its ability to link the two types of disaster. The chaparral-rich fuel that abounds by Refugio has famously not burned since the epic Refugio Fire of 1955. Back then, however, there was no Santa Ynez Unit oil and gas processing plant located by Las Flores Canyon and owned by ExxonMobil. The Scherpa Fire encroached onto the property the first night of the fire, giving the facility a “bump.”
The flames came up to the industrial plant’s large concrete pads, but never threatened the oil and gas processing facilities themselves. The pads create a substantial setback and were designed back in the 1980s with such fires in mind. They effectively functioned as a moat, keeping the Scherpa’s flames from getting too close.
If the fire returns to the facility—though it is not expected to — the plant has 278,000 barrels of crude oil stored there. That’s down from 425,000 from a few weeks ago, when ExxonMobil began trucking the oil marooned there after last May’s Plains All American pipeline spill. In response to that leak, the federal government shut the pipeline down, stymying the three oil companies that relied upon it to get oil produced off the Santa Barbara coast — and treated at Las Flores Canyon — to market. In addition, some Exxon personnel stayed on site to extinguish any flare-ups, joining forces with county firefighters to repel flames.