Fire crews responded to a Central Coast beach on Thursday for a somewhat unusual geological event: a mini “volcano.”
According to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department crews were at the Hope Ranch in the 4200 block of Marina Drive on Thursday morning into the afternoon “addressing activity from the local geological phenomenon known as the ‘Hope Ranch Volcano.’”
Though it is not a real volcano, a natural solfatara — or coastal bluff vent — in that area routinely releases heat, steam and sulfurous gases from ongoing chemical processes in the rock formations underneath, the agency said.
“Documented since the 1800s, it periodically flares up and can ignite vegetation or nearby materials,” a Fire Department post on X read…