On the coastal highway leading into Santa Barbara, the signs of last year’s Thomas fire are starting to disappear: Scorched hillsides are no longer covered in black ash, and the palm trees that ignited like torches are sprouting new fronds.

Yet reminders of the mudslide that roared through Montecito a month later and killed at least 21 people are far more visible. The foothills that turned into rivers of mud and rock during a January storm remain brown, with only small patches of dried vegetation. Fallen trees still lie across shattered homes, and bulldozers busily scrape debris into ordered piles.

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