The first storm of the season is here and many areas across the Central Coast have been impacted by the windy conditions.
Fire officials say they received multiple calls across Orcutt about the damages the winds have caused.
“I was in the backyard painting something and then I heard some commotion out here and went out and noticed there was something really burning back in the back,” said Gene Alarcon an Orcutt resident and neighbor of a nearby house that sustained damage.
Gene Alarcon is one of several neighbors on the 800 block of Amethyst Drive in Orcutt who witnessed a couple of homes affected by a small fire that broke out Wednesday afternoon.
“The first house they lost I think their fence and then the second house, there was probably more damage done in the backyard and so we figured we wouldn’t bother them or anything like that,” said Alarcon. “But there was something about a tree. Something hitting a wire and the wire came down and it was live and that’s what started the fire.”
According to Santa Barbara County Fire Cpt. Scott Safechuck, there were several areas that were damaged because of the high winds.
“We had seven calls in the Orcutt area for extreme winds knocking down power lines, energizing fences, and creating small spot fires including a trampoline that was lifted into the powerlines,” said Safechuck.
Safechuck says the down power lines created power outages in the area which affected neighbors like Alarcon.
“We were probably down from the time that it hit, and I’m just getting home from dinner,” said Alarcon. “We’re talking maybe about 4 or 5 hours.”
Cpt. Safechuck says we are not out of the fire season quite yet.
Despite the rain we’re seeing in the area, he believes there is still a chance the vegetation could dry up again.
“Our vegetation is still at a critical state at the 60 percent fuel moisture mark, so it might saturate a little bit with this rain. But if we’re followed by dry-windy sundowner conditions, it’ll dry out that vegetation right back still in the middle of fire season.”
Cpt. Safechuck says that no injuries were reported from the small fire that occurred off the 800 block of Amethyst Drive in Orcutt Wednesday afternoon.
