The Santa Barbara County Fire Department is planning a 280-acre prescribed burn at Sedgwick Reserve, about 30 miles northwest of Santa Barbara, that fire officials say could begin as early as Nov. 1 as part of a broader effort to reduce wildfire risk.
The burn is part of the Santa Barbara Vegetation Management and Ignition Prevention Project, which aims to create a connected network of fuel breaks through vegetation thinning, roadside clearing and prescribed burns. Backed by a recently awarded $990,000 grant from Cal Fire’s Wildfire Prevention Program, the project will span more than 3,100 acres across the Santa Ynez and Los Alamos valleys.
Santa Barbara County Fire Division Chief Fred Tan said the 280-acre project could take two full days to implement and is the first phase of a larger 1,819-acre target area of Sedgwick Reserve, which is set to be completed over the next two to three years…