The fire that ripped through the mountains of Santa Barbara County over the summer is creating new hazards.
The Lake Fire burned over 38,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest as well as on state and private lands before being fully contained in early August.
Dozens of people showed up to a meeting on Tuesday night in Los Olivos to discuss potential hazards and concerns.
Water was the main topic of the meeting.
“My concerns are rain," said Cheryl Morris, who lives on Figueroa Mountain in Los Padres National Forest. "Now there’s no vegetation on any of the hillsides. What goes down into that creeks — it’s all on a slant and it’s all going to go downhill."
Officials with the National Weather Service say flash flooding and debris flow are possible but will be closely monitored as winter approaches.
“When you get a debris flow you can have rocks that are in the mud and can scour the channel," said Jayme Laber, National Weather Service senior service hydrologist. "But if it comes out of the channel it can cause damage to property."
There are still closures in the Los Padres National Forest.
“The things that are closed right now are mostly a few picnic sites, Figueroa Campground, a handful of trails due to hazmat and burned trees,” said Ben Gray of Los Padres National Forest, a ranger with the Santa Lucia Ranger District.
As far as what’s being done now:
“We went out there and regraded the roads, fixed culverts, opened pipelines so that when the water does flow, we make sure everything is open,” said Anthony Stornetta, Santa Barbara County Fire Department deputy fire chief.
“The whole property burned," Morris, the resident who lives on Figueroa Mountain. "... [T]he only thing that didn’t burn is the seven homes on the property and it got up very close in some cases."
Morris was evacuated for 15 days from her property.
“It was a shock," Morris said. "I walked in from the main road because I wanted to take pictures of what everything looked like, and it was a shock to see how much of the trees did not burn. It did go around all the houses."
For information on how to register for emergency alerts in Santa Barbara County visit ReadySBC.org.
