Pasadena Fire Dept. Units Rollout on Strike Team Fighting Santa Barbara’s Cave Fire

Pasadena firefighters and equipment have been deployed to fight the Cave Fire that started Monday afternoon in Santa Barbara County and has so far spread to more than 4,000 acres.

Pasadena Fire deployed 11 personnel including a strike team leader, two fire engines and a water tender as part of Stroke Team 1202-A to support Santa Barbara County Fire Department units.

The Strike Team is assigned to provide structure defense.

In addition, Water Tender 37 was assigned as an individual resource to the fire, and was supporting air operations at the Santa Ynez Airport as of Tuesday morning, according to authorities.

Officials in Santa Barbara County proclaimed a local emergency Monday night when the fire was beginning to advance toward major population areas in the cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta and unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara, and have requested California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to declare a state of emergency.

“The Cave Fire is causing conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within Santa Barbara County,” said a Tuesday morning statement from Santa Barbara County. “These conditions are beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment and facilities of the combined forces of the county’s Operational Area to combat. Additional resources have been ordered from out of the area, which have been arriving all evening.”

The Cave Fire started burning around 4:15 p.m. Monday in the Santa Ynez Mountains east of the intersection of State Highway 154 and East Camino Cielo Road, Santa Barbara County officials said.

Thousands have been ordered to evacuate as the wind-stoked fire threatened structures, including multimillion-dollar homes and ranchettes on both sides of state Highway 154. So far, no homes have been burned although one non-residential building has been destroyed, a CNN report said.

County officials added the fire was threatening Southern California Edison’s main transmission lines that provide power to the southern portion of the county, and outages that were not related to the intentional Public Safety Power Shutoff have been reported in unincorporated areas between the cities of Goleta and Santa Barbara, along Highway 154 through Mission Canyon, and parts of Summerland and Carpinteria.

Around 600 firefighters, including those from Pasadena, were confronting the Cave Fire, according to a report by Pasadena Battalion Chief Anthony James.

Under the California Disaster and Civil Defense Master Mutual Aid Agreement signed in 1950, the City of Pasadena, as well as all other local jurisdictions in the state, are obliged to provide assistance, including firefighters, vehicles and equipment, to any other jurisdiction throughout California during an emergency such as a wildfire.