Santa Barbara Fire Fuels

Location and scope of wildfires on the Central Coast

While recent years have brought us some of the most destructive wildfires in California’s, and the nation’s history, they are not new to the area. This timeline shows wildfire data from large fires in the 20th and 21st centuries, highlighting the size and scope of the largest fire from each decade.

This infographic highlights five types of potential fuels, their general location in Santa Barbara County and pinpoints the location of some of the larger fires over the past 60 years.

FUELING THE FIRE

Agriculture buffers protect cities from highly flammable chaparral and grasslands

Chaparral is one of the most prevalent types of vegetation on the Central Coast, and it’s unique profile makes it one of the most recognizable features of the area, but its properties make it a very flammable and risky neighbor. This map shows the location of five vegetation types in the area.

Fuel to burn

While topography and weather conditions have a lot to do with the severity of a fire and firefighters’ ability to battle the blaze, the type of fuel feeding the flames has a huge impact in the potential spread of a fire – not just in the potential size, but the speed of spread. We look at five vegetation types on the Central Coast and describe their place in the wildfire puzzle.

Fuel to burn:

WILD GRASSLAND

CHAPARRAL

COASTAL SCRUB

OAK WOODLAND

AGRICULTURE

WILD GRASSLAND

CHAPARRAL

COASTAL SCRUB

OAK WOODLAND

AGRICULTURE

‘Soft chaparral’ grows near coastlines and in coastal valleys with cool/foggy temperatures. Frequent fire can destroy habitat, leaving grassland behind.

California's most extensive native plant community is a semi-arid, shrub-dominated association of hard-leaved woody plants.

Mostly non-native, generally resulting from previous grazing or wildfires. Highly combustible when dry, causing rapid fire spread.

Agriculture is a big part of North County’s economy and agricultural lands act as a protective belt around towns and cities.

Evergreen trees ranging from 20- to 75-feet in height. The Live Oak can grow in densely packed groupings or in a sparse pattern depending on moisture levels.

50s

60s

70s

80s

90s

00s

10s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Refugio Fire

September, 1955

Coyote Fire

September, 1964

Romero Fire

October, 1971

An arsonist started the fire that lead to the deaths of four people working to contain the blaze that consumed 14K acres.

Wheeler Fire

July, 1985

Nearly 120K acres burned in southern Santa Barbara and northern Ventura counties destroying 26 structures.

Marre Fire

September, 1993

The largest fire of the 1990’s, the Marre Fire burned over 43K acres in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Zaca Fire

July, 2007

In 2007 this was second largest fire in California history at over 240K acres, but now it's not in the top five largest fires.

Thomas Fire

December, 2017

Currently the second largest fire in California’s history, burning over 280K acres, destroying more than 1,000 homes and causing the deaths of two people.

Bakersfield

Santa Barbara

Santa Maria

Thousand Oaks

SOURCES: Cal Fire; County of Santa Barbara; Conservation Biology Institute; Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara; Santa Maria Times research by Jason Anderson

Evergreen trees ranging from 20 – 75 feet in height. The Live Oak can grow in densely packed groupings or sparse depending on moisture

FIRES BY DECADE

50s

60s

70s

80s

90s

00s

10s