Others organized spontaneously in the wake of catastrophic disaster. Many were professionally trained, ready to do their jobs. Among countless acts of heroism and kindness, they saved people, searched for the missing, dug out buried homes, and cared therapeutically for traumatized survivors. These women and men - and many others not pictured - took action during and after last winter’s historic Thomas Fire and deadly 1/9 Debris Flow. Thomas Fire and 1/9 Debris Flow Responders This is a picture of community. We’re proud to shine a light on all of these good works, and we hope that it inspires others to do the same. The Local Heroes class of 2018 features homeless advocates, dancers, lawn bowlers, librarians, grocery store employees, and many more of our neighbors who regularly put the lives and well-being of others in front of their own needs. So we honored as many of those first and second responders as we could on page 20, knowing that we’d never be able to capture each and every lifesaving and community-recovering tale.īut we also adhered to our usual format of honoring the hard work of people who were not part of those disasters.
This year, in the wake of the Thomas Fire and the devastating 1/9 Debris Flow, we were presented with more stories of heroism than we’ve ever seen. It’s our best effort to remind everyone that, despite the steady drumbeat of bad news, we are surrounded by neighbors who care and who put those cares into concrete action every day. Today, 32 years and more than 1,600 issues later, this Local Heroes edition remains our proudest and most meaningful annual achievement. We christened those honorees as our “Local Heroes,” and a Thanksgiving week tradition was born. In 1986, the first-ever issue of the Santa Barbara Independent was dedicated to showcasing the amazingly selfless people who call Santa Barbara home.