Editorial

Social But Not Emotional Distancing I was talking to a young friend on Friday. She grew up in Montecito and is in her sophomore year of college in Santa Barbara. We were commiserating about her school, and my daughters’ local schools, all coming to such an abruptly surreal halt when my friend looked at me and said, “Same thing happened my senior year of high school during the debris flow.” She smiled but I could see the angst in her eyes. What the heck is going on? It’s a good question. Indeed, it’s easy to look at our calamities of the last three years: the Thomas Fire, the debris flow, and coronavirus quarantine like a 1-2-3 punch that is testing our collective resolve and resilience.

But as tragic as these events have been, I personally am grateful for lessons learned and systems put in place that continue to pay dividends going forward. As recently as Monday, an email went around the Featherhill community in Romero Canyon about a localized mudflow. Literally within 10 minutes of that email, our awesome Fire Chief, Kevin Taylor, was assuring folks that resources were already being deployed, and former SB Fire Chief and TPRC head Pat McElroy was looped in and monitoring the situation as well. So yes, our January 2018 debris flow was horrendous. But we made it a teachable moment and, as a result, have better emergency systems in place now than we had then. When our mountains start to liquefy, I am thankful for our debris nets, thankful for our top notch first responders, thankful to know there’s a Bucket Brigade, and thankful we have a new debris basin in the works for Randall Road.

EDITORIAL Page 264

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