A South Coast city has received a major state grant to try to prevent future wildfires.
Goleta got $1.7 million from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The money will be used to reduce the brush fire risk in the Ellwood Mesa area, and its surrounding neighborhoods.
The plan is to create a defensible buffer space between open space in the area, and about 3500 nearby homes.
The goal is to also remove a number of dead eucalyptus trees, and downed wood in the area which pose a brush fire threat to the Ellwood Mesa’s monarch butterfly habitat area.
