Caroline Feraday

1 week ago | kclu.org | Caroline Feraday

"It's built for the future. The area is getting denser, our population is getting older, our call volume continues to increase about 6% a year," explains Dustin Gardner, Ventura County Fire Chief. The original station nearby was home to Ventura County’s busiest engine company – but the building was 60 years old and needed modernization. "It was built for fire engines six decades ago.

1 week ago | kclu.org | Caroline Feraday

A man is beating a stick on a wooden box. Singers are taking short, shuffling steps to the rhythm. This is the Santa Barbara Ring Shout Project. Ring Shout is the oldest African-American performance tradition in North America, and was first practiced by slaves in the Southern states. "It would help them to survive the cruelty and pain and frustration of being enslaved," explained the group’s co-creator and leader, Frances Moore.

1 week ago | kclu.org | Caroline Feraday

It marks a significant milestone in the construction project to create a new train depot in Goleta…"This will be the actual steel frame construction. This is really like establishing the skeleton. All the underground utilities are done," explained City of Goleta Assistant City manager Jaime Valdez. Valdez says when the project is complete – around a year from now – it will be transformative for the region.

1 week ago | kclu.org | Caroline Feraday

At least once a week, someone in Santa Barbara County dies from an opioid overdose. Lifesaving medication Narcan is now available free from the Santa Barbara Police Department’s station lobby, explains Commander Brian Miller from the Santa Barbara Police Department. "Our community is affected by the opioid crisis just as much as anywhere else across the country," said Miller. "Our officers and first responders respond to overdoses on a very regular basis.

2 weeks ago | kclu.org | Caroline Feraday

You might not notice until you call for help, but the transition of Santa Maria's Fire Department's dispatch to Santa Barbara County's Regional Fire Communication Center is a step forward in modernizing the service, says the City of Santa María Fire Chief Brad Dandridge. "There's going to be a more timely, more efficient response to fires, to medical aids, to any emergency that is required at the fire service," he told KCLU.