Tom Jacobs introduced our speaker today, City of Santa Barbara Fire Chief Pat McElroy, who will be retiring later this month after more than 36 years of service. Chief McElroy began his career with the US Forest Service in 1976 and started as a firefighter with the City of Santa Barbara Fire Department in 1981. He was promoted to Captain in 1990, Battalion Chief in 2008, Operations Division Chief in 2011, and has been serving as Fire Chief since 2013.

 

The Santa Barbara Independent has recognized Chief McElroy as a Local Hero for his work with the reformation of California’s 9-1-1 system. He is a newly appointed board member of the Doctors Without Walls – Santa Barbara Street Medicine. For the past two years, Chief McElroy has been working alongside UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management on their multi-disciplinary project focusing on wildfire and climate change. Throughout his career here in Santa Barbara, Chief McElroy has been involved in battling many of the area’s most significant fires including: three fires on Stearns Wharf, the Painted Cave Fire (1990), the Santa Barbara Bank & Trust Fire (1999), the La Brea Fire (2009), the Whittier Fire (2017), and most recently the Thomas Fire (2017).

 

Chief McElroy was able to present our group with a breakdown of the numbers (manpower, equipment and resources) and a myriad of details regarding the timeline of the Thomas Fire as well as the subsequent mudslides in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The number of fire crews and personnel that assembled to battle the Thomas Fire was unprecedented, and was likely the largest firefighting force to ever be assembled. We learned about the process of planning and committing resources to fighting such a fire, and the hefty responsibility (in dollars and lives) shouldered by those who sign such commitments.

 

There were many interesting and occasionally downright flabbergasting facts which Chief McElroy presented, including:

-Chief McElroy was the individual who gave the name to the Jesusita Fire (2009)

-Of the total amount of fire retardant dropped on fires in the United States over the past 5 years, over half was dropped from aircraft flying out of Santa Maria airport.

-At one point, there was so much fuel feeding the Thomas Fire that it was able burn uphill against 40-45 mph sundowner winds blowing down the mountain.

-According to geologists, the viscosity of the debris flow (that caused the destruction in Montecito) was such that boulders 9 to 15 feet in circumference were as buoyant in the flow as a tennis ball is in water.

 

A very heartfelt thank you to Chief McElroy for a powerful and educational presentation, and for his decades of service to the Santa Barbara community!

 

Another white marble was drawn from the bag, and John Engstrom was the fruit basket winner!