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Assessment of a Post-Fire Debris Flow Impacting El Capitan Watershed, Santa Barbara County, California, U.S.A.

In the summer of 2016, the Sherpa Fire burned 30.2 km² in steep terrain in western Santa Barbara County, California. Rainfall events in the subsequent wet season produced damaging post-wildfire flooding and debris flows. This paper presents a case study along a watershed within the burned area, El Capitan Creek, that (1) describes the events and conditions that led to the post-wildfire flooding and debris flow events, and (2) documents the debris flow deposits and inundation zone impacted by the events. Observations compiled after three post-wildfire precipitation events indicate that three distinct flow processes impacted El Capitan Creek between 19 and 22 January 2017.
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These flow processes included watery flows, hyper-concentrated flows, and debris flows. The velocity and concentrated nature of these flows caused overbanking and channel avulsions that resulted in damaged roads, bridges, pipelines, and major infrastructure damage to the El Capitan Canyon Resort. These events occurred only 1 year prior to the devastating Montecito debris flows of 2018 and call attention to the conditions that produced these impactful flows and highlight the timing and conditions that generate post wildfire debris flows. Information from case studies such as this can guide decision makers and emergency managers to understand the hazards and risks that floods and debris flows pose on communities below steep mountain drainages and support the development of sound protocols to help reduce the threat to life, property, and infrastructure in downstream communities.

Related Resources

Assessment of a Post-Fire Debris Flow Impacting El Capitan Watershed, Santa Barbara County, California, U.S.A.
Observations and Analyses of the 9 January 2018 Debris-Flow Disaster, Santa Barbara County, California

Meet the Presenter

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Jonathan Yonni Schwartz

Jonathan Yonni Schwartz earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Haifa, Israel, with a major in Earth Sciences / Physical Geography and minors in Archeology and Marine Sciences. He moved to the United States in 1997 to work on his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California (USC), studying coastal geomorphology with a focus on coastal sediment transport. Two years into his Ph.D. studies, Yonni took a leave of absence for 5-years and taught undergraduate students at various California State Universities in Southern California. Simultaneously, Yonni founded Peaceful Edge Adventures in 2000, a costume design adventure travel company and started guiding clients on mountain climbing, backpacking, kayaking, scuba diving and surfing trips all over the world (www.peacefuledge.com). 

Yonni was hired by the U.S. Forest Service in 2004 as a Natural Resource Officer on the Angeles National Forest. He then transferred to the Los Padres National Forest in 2010 where he still works today as the Minerals & Geology Program Manager, the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Program Coordinator and a Lead Resource Advisor on wildfires. Yonni has been acting as US Forest Service, Region 5 (California) Minerals & Geology Program Lead for the last two years.

During his spare time Yonni surfs, bikes, recreates (backpacking, hiking, rock climbing, camping), practices Tai Chi, Yoga and meditation, gardens and raises chickens. With over 40 years of world travel experience, Yonni still explores and goes on world adventures.