Starting this week, the City of Santa Barbara’s Vendor Enforcement Team, led by the Fire Department and supported by bilingual City staff and law enforcement officers for safety, will be conducting inspections of sidewalk vending operations.
The focus is on ensuring compliance with fire code regulations, as open flames, propane tanks, and grease create hazardous conditions that can escalate quickly, requiring emergency response and posing serious risks to public safety.
To address these concerns, City Fire is actively enforcing fire code violations related to unpermitted food vendors operating in public rights-of-way. In coordination with the City Attorney’s Office, the Fire Department is also leading criminal investigations into fire safety violations…