Prescribed Burns Continue This Week at Painted Cave, Los Olivos’s Midland School

If you’re near Midland School in Los Olivos or close to Painted Cave Road off of Highway 154, that smell of smoke in the air is nothing to sweat over. Any signs and smells of fire are likely the result of the prescribed burns taking place in those areas this week, orchestrated by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, County Air Pollution Control District, and California Air Resources Board. 

Prescribed, or controlled, burns are conducted to clear away dead underbrush and other debris to help prevent the spread of wildfires, protect residential areas, and reduce impacts to watersheds that can result in soil loss and sedimentation. The method stems from Indigenous tradition, and the practice of using controlled burning to prevent large, out-of-control wildfires goes back thousands of years among Native California tribes. 

The prescribed burn at Midland School will only last a few days at most, between November 29 and December 3, and the continuation of the Painted Cave pile burn that began on November 28 will be over by December 4.