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Sheep in Santa “Bahh-bara” A wool-y great way to improve wildfire safety
Settlement reached in Thomas Fire, debris flow By MITCHELL WHITE NEWS-PRESS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Southern California Edison announced a $1.16 billion settlement on Wednesday with insurance companies suing over the Thomas Fire and Montecito debris flow disasters. In the announcement, the power company said that “no admission of wrongdoing or liability was made” in reaching the agreement. Southern California Edison said it continues to make progress in reaching settlements with individual plaintiffs in litigation from these events, as well as the 2017 Koenigstein and 2018 Woosley fires. “We are making significant progress toward resolving wildfire-related litigation,” Pedro J. Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, said in a statement. “The settlement announced today resolves all the subrogation claims in the pending 2017 Thomas and Koenigstein fires and January 2018 Montecito Mudslides litigation. In addition, while
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The Santa Barbara City Fire Department is using sheep to graze overgrown vegetation in attempts to reduce fuels at Skofield Park.
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Haven’t you herd? Approximately 100 sheep are paying a visit to Santa Barbara to do their civic duty and help the fire prevention efforts. The Santa Barbara City Fire Department is using sheep to graze overgrown vegetation in attempts to reduce fuels at Skofield Park. The sheep from Cuyama Lamb LLC arrived Monday and will remain at the park through Oct. 5 thinning overgrowth on seven acres in the southern section of the park. This form of biological management within the Community Fuels Treatment Network minimizes impact to project areas and reduces overall emissions. It’s funded through
the Wildland Fire Suppression Assessment District. The city has utilized biological management with goats in the past, but the typical method of clearing vegetation is with hand crews who cut the material, pull it to an area where it can be chipped and deliver the chips to community members who request them. However, the sheep have certain advantages over man. “Sheep are good at getting a little bit lower on the ground in some areas where it’s hard for hand crews to cut in,” said Chris Braden, the fire services specialist with the Santa Barbara City Fire Department. “They’re good at making their own trail.” He told the News-Press that using sheep over hand crews is quieter, cheaper and environmentally friendlier than
hand crews. “This is a really positive project for the community,” Mr. Braden said. “We’re always looking at alternate methods to treat vegetation that are cost effective.” Fire personnel and operators of Cuyama Lamb LLC only have to check in once or twice a day to make sure the sheep are on task and not overgrazing. Once they graze a two to three acre section, personnel bump the fencing to the other areas. Cuyama Lamb LLC has worked with the Montecito Fire Protection District as well, and its sheep have grazed at Elings Park, the San Marcos Foothills Preserve, Arroyo Burro and various ranches along the Gaviota coast, according to Jenya Schneider, one of the owners and operators of Cuyama Lamb LLC.
“In our current situation in California, we need to use all our tools in the toolbox,” she told the News-Press. She said using livestock is much more scalable and can cover more acres than hand crews. “It’s also a much nicer presence in the neighborhood to have some sheep grazing around versus some loud machinery all the time,” Ms. Schneider added. The fire department requests all visitors of the park to maintain a respectful distance from the sheep and ensure dogs are leashed at all times, or else they will be chased away by guard dogs. Time “wool” tell if the sheep’s hard work pays off. email: gmccormick@newspress. com
At left, approximately 100 sheep will remain at the park through Oct. 5 to thin overgrowth on seven acres in the southern section of the park. At right, fire officials request visitors maintain a respectful distance from the sheep and ensure dogs are leashed at all times. A guard dog is on duty and notice signs are placed in the park as a reminder.
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other claims and potential claims related to the 2017/2018 Wildfire/ Mudslide Events remain, SCE has reached settlements with several hundred individual plaintiffs in litigation arising from these events. The company continues to explore reasonable settlement opportunities with other parties.” Last November, Southern California Edison and Edison International reached separate settlements with 23 public entities impacted by the fire and flood events. “With this current subrogation claims settlement, increased settlement activity with individual plaintiffs and currently available information, SCE is now establishing a best estimate of total expected losses for the 2017/2018 Wildfire/ Mudslide Events litigation of $6.2 billion (an increase of $1.3 billion from the prior estimate) and will record an incremental net charge to earnings of $878 million after tax,” officials said in a news release. “SCE’s best estimate of expected remaining losses is $4.6 billion.” Southern California Edison Please see edison on A8
SM Council declines gang recommendations By JOSH GREGA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Due to budget shortfalls, expected layoffs, and regulations surrounding law enforcement agencies sharing databases, the Santa Maria City Council declined recommendations the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury made in a report regarding local handling of juvenile gangs. As part of the consent calendar at its Sept. 15 meeting, the council decided against implementing the Grand Jury’s recommendations with a unanimous vote to send a signed written response of declination to the presiding judge of the Superior Court. The response answers the Grand Jury report’s two findings that specifically mention Santa Maria and those findings’ respective recommendations. These are the first finding, that there’s no comprehensive database to identify local gangs and their members, and the sixth, that gang activities cross the jurisdictional boundaries of local law enforcement agencies. The database finding recommends that the Santa Maria Police Department pool its resources with other local police departments to make a comprehensive database. The latter recommends SMPD join a consortium that includes other local police departments and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, hire a full-time crime analyst, share data, and hire
staff to write grants for anti-gang program funding. While the response signed by Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino agrees with the two findings pertaining to her city, it states it will not implement any of the three recommendations. While the SMPD historically shared gang intelligence by using a statewide database, a majority of California law enforcement agencies have ceased using it because regulatory requirements on using shared databases have increased over the years. “As a result, the benefits of using the shared gang database became outweighed by the burdens imposed by the regulations,” the response reads. While the mayor’s response did agree that gang activities cross into different law enforcement jurisdictions, it stressed that “the overwhelming majority” of gang violence in the city of Santa Maria is committed by people who reside there. As for the recommendations that SMPD join a consortium, hire a crime analyst and hire grant writers, Mayor Patino wrote that the city is already going to experience layoffs as a result of budget shortfalls. In an interview with the NewsPress, Santa Maria City Council member Mike Cordero said that while all city departments are susceptible to layoffs, there are specifically plans to lay off a Please see council on A8
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