‘Hurriquake’ and Wildfire Make for Eventful Weekend in Santa Barbara County

Southern California was mostly ready when Tropical Storm Hilary arrived on Saturday, with warnings of high winds and heavy rain coming from the National Weather Service for close to a week in advance. Baja California and SoCal’s desert areas suffered torrential rain and flooding, but Santa Barbara County, to the west of the center of the storm, received light rain and “routine” impacts, county Public Works Director Scott McGolpin said. Flood control systems were already cleaned out and ready by the time rain began to fall Saturday afternoon. Coastal areas got a few tenths of an inch, and the mountains at the San Luis Obispo County border closer to an inch, with few to no consequences.

Not so for two North County fires on Saturday or the earthquakes that shook Ventura. First, around 12:30 p.m., the Hapgood Fire near Buellton consumed about an acre and was nearly surrounded by a bulldozer line when the call came for a large fire near New Cuyama. Burning across the hilly terrain of State Route 166, the Plant Fire grew from 300 to nearly 5,500 acres as it was driven by erratic winds from the approaching storm. Residents were evacuated, and SR 166 was shut down overnight before firefighters gained control of the fire with the help of the rain, allowing residents to return to their homes late Sunday afternoon. About 636 personnel were assigned to ground crews, 19 hand crews, and 58 engine crews. The fire was at 60 percent contained on Monday.

At 2:41 p.m. on Sunday, a 5.1 earthquake registered on U.S. Geologic Survey seismographs 4.3 miles southeast of Ojai and was felt from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. At least 27 aftershocks — two of them 3.9 in magnitude — were recorded as of Monday noon. The initial quake shook bottles from shelves in Ojai itself, though no damage was reported in Carpinteria, just across the county line.