One injured in rollover crash
One person suffered critical injuries in a single-vehicle rollover Friday night southeast of Santa Maria.
SANTA MARIA — One person suffered critical injuries in a single-vehicle rollover Friday night near the intersection of Dominion and Palmer roads southeast of Santa Maria, authorities said.
Santa Barbara County Fire Department crews responded to the area at 7:17 p.m. and located a single vehicle that wound up on its side after crashing. The lone occupant was trapped under the vehicle and required extensive extrication before being airlifted by Calstar helicopter to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for treatment, said Capt. Daniel Bertucelli, fire spokesman.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
— Mitchell White
No arrests made in standoff
ORCUTT — An hours-long standoff that prompted a shelter-in-place warning from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Thursday night in Orcutt ended without any arrests, authorities said.
Around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, deputies responded to a report of a person experiencing a mental health crisis in their residence in the area of Foxenwood Drive and Old Mill Lane. A shelter-in-place warning was issued for the area as the department’s Crisis Intervention Team spoke with a resident for several hours, said Raquel Zick, sheriff’s spokeswoman.
The resident reportedly was in possession of a firearm, though no threats were made. The shelter-in-place order was lifted around 11:30 p.m., Ms. Zick said.
“CIT did a follow up (Friday) including taking weapons for safekeeping and the subject was connected with necessary support,” Ms. Zick told the News-Press in an email.
— Mitchell White
Red flag warning issued
The National Weather Service has upgraded the fire weather watch to a red flag warning for Santa Barbara County mountains and the South Coast.
The warning, which went into effect Saturday and will remain in place through at least Monday, is due to forecast sundowner winds, low humidity and very high temperatures, according to an alert issued by the county Office of Emergency Management.
Northwest to north winds 15 to 30 mph with local gusts up to 45 mph are expected tonight and Monday night. The strongest winds are anticipated in the western portions of the Santa Ynez Mountains and Santa Barbara foothills. Relative humidity levels will drop as low as 8% in the mountains, foothills and wind-prone coastal areas, according to the NWS.
Temperatures could reach up to 107 degrees today and Monday in the foothills, lower mountains and canyons. Temperatures into the 90s and lower triple digits could linger through the nighttime hours, weather officials said.
“If fire ignition occurs, conditions will be favorable for rapid fire spread, long range spotting, and extreme fire behavior which would threaten life and property. In addition to the threat of a wind driven fire, there is a significant threat of large plume dominated fires with extreme fire behavior in areas where winds are lighter,” read a weather statement issued by the NWS.
An excessive heat warning for the cities of Santa Barbara and Carpinteria, as well as Montecito, will be in effect through 8 p.m. tonight.
— Mitchell White
