Tropical weather is making its way through Southern California. As San Diego deals with a flood advisory, the Santa Maria Fire Department is sending some extra help.
“I know we have a unit down there on the Fairview incident that is down in Hemet, and in that area they’ve had a lot of fires recently,” explained Seth Wells, the Santa Maria Fire Department’s Acting Battalion Chief. “They are combating all those, but with the drought there is no brush to hold the mud and all the materials on the mountains out there, so if we get that sudden hit of rain again like Montecito it creates a wash off of everything.”
Seven members of Santa Maria Fire are on standby down south.
“It can be a search and rescue kind of thing, they may also help with evacuations,” added Wells.
Among those ready to assist are 34 Cal Fire SLO firefighters who were battling the Fairview Fire and surrounding areas.
“Some of the resources that are covering are actually assisting in what is to come with the tropical storm,” said Toni Davis, Cal Fire SLO Public Information Officer. “In that, they are preparing along with the swift water rescue teams that they have down in Riverside, our folks that are covering that unit are there to support them.”
Cal Fire SLO said they try to rotate their assisting personnel every 21 days to make sure they get some rest from responding to incidents.
While the bulk of the storm is not expected to impact the Central Coast as much as Southern California, organizers of the Morro Bay Avocado Margarita Food and Drink Festival are not taking any chances.
“This is a rain or shine event, we are looking forward to it all weekend,” said Hannah Lique Naitove, Morro Bay Avocado Margarita Food & Drink Festival’s Event Coordinator. “We have tents, bring a jacket, it’s going to sprinkle, and if it does, we are all set, the bands are covered with a covering over the stage, same at the rock.”
Vendors like Meghan Hayword are gearing up with a waterproof tent just in case.
“We are from Central California, so we’ve had a heat wave going on up to 115 degrees, so we’re loving this right now, but we do have umbrellas for rain,” said Hayward, who is Tia Linda’s Margarita’s co-founder
Event organizers are asking attendees to be prepared for the anticipated weather conditions. Anything from a raincoat or an umbrella.
