County awarded $2M in grant funds to reduce wildfire risk in Lompoc Valley

May 09-- May 9--The Santa Barbara County Fire Department has been awarded more than $2 million in state grant funding that it plans to use to mitigate wildfire risks in the Lompoc Valley, the agency announced Wednesday.

The funds are slated to go toward the Lompoc Valley Fuel Reduction Project, a four-year, $2.5 million undertaking for which the Santa Barbara County Fire Department will serve as the lead agency.

The project will be supported by the $2,229,818 awarded through the California Climate Investment Fire Prevention Grant from the Cal Fire, plus an additional $222,230 in matching funds from the County Fire Department.

The project, according to County Fire, will include treatments for community defensible space around Vandenberg Village and Mission Hills; 15.1 miles of roadside fuel reduction along Harris Grade, Rucker and Burton Mesa roads; the removal of more than 150 dead trees within La Purisima Mission State Historic Park; and an 18-mile fuel treatment spanning from Vandenberg Air Force Base to the outskirts of Buellton.

"The Lompoc Valley Fuel Reduction Project is designed to reduce the impacts of wildfires to this area by mitigating fuel continuity, [to] protect the public and to provide improved safe separation distance for firefighters," read a portion of a statement from the County Fire Department.

"Additionally, the fuel reduction activities in the Lompoc Valley Fuel Reduction Project collaterally benefit the environment by reducing the release of carbon during large wildland fires, a major goal of the California Climate Investment program," the statement continued.

The Lompoc Valley has a history of large wildfire activity. The most prominent historic fires identified by County Fire include the Honda Canyon, 2002 Sudden and Harris fires.

The Lompoc Valley was also home to the 2016 Canyon fire that consumed 12,742 acres, and the 2017 Rucker fire that threatened 100 homes.

"Within the proposed [Lompoc Valley Fuel Reduction Project] area, old-age class Burton Mesa chaparral, as well as stands of pines and grasslands, are continuous and threaten the public, firefighters, structures, wildlife, watersheds and the environment," County Fire reported.

The Lompoc Valley Fuel Reduction Project boundary reaches several communities, encompassing about 14,300 homes, according to County Fire.

Work on the project is expected to begin in 2020.

The Burton Mesa Land Management Plan, completed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2007, will serve as the guiding document for many of the project activities.

The grant awarded to the County Fire Department is one of 66, totaling $43 million, that Cal Fire is planning to provide to local fire projects throughout the state in an effort to reduce the impact of wildfires.

Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann expressed support for the project.

"I am grateful to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department for developing this plan and applying for this grant," she said.

"I would also like to thank community members from the Burton Mesa area, the Vandenberg Village Association and the Mission Hills Community Council for calling for greater fire safety and for elevating this project as a community priority," she said.

Willis Jacobson covers the city of Lompoc for Lee Central Coast Newspapers. Follow him on Twitter @WJacobsonLR.

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