The West Coast is getting its own taste of some Spring Break mayhem.
Police in Santa Barbara, California, are said to have become ‘overwhelmed with medical calls’ on Saturday evening after Deltopia celebrations – the city’s equivalent of Spring Break – became unruly.
Just before 6 p.m., Santa Barbara County Fire declared a ‘multi-casualty incident’ in Isla Vista, west of downtown Santa Barbara, because of what was described as ‘multiple severe traumas and medical emergencies.’
A number of calls concerned people falling from buildings.
At 1:15 p.m., emergency personnel were sent to Del Playa Drive after it was reported a woman had fallen from a room.
Later on Saturday afternoon, paramedics were on the scene after someone fell out of a second-story window on El Nido Lane. No other details were immediately available about their conditions.
By Saturday evening, firefighters had treated people with major injuries that included broken bones.
Some calls were also for people who had either overdosed on drugs or alcohol, according to SanLuisObispo.com.
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Police in Santa Barbara declared a ‘multi casualty incident’ in Isla Vista where a raucous college Spring Break party Deltopia is underway
From the air, crows could be seen gathered on beachside balconies as the partying raged on
The chaos started early Friday with three arrests and 20 citations handed out on the first night of Isla Vista’s Deltopia weekend, taking place where the University of California Santa Barbara is based. But that appears to have been calm in comparison to Saturday’s shenanigans.
Firefighters declared the event a ‘mass casualty incident’ because of the sheer number of patients with medical emergencies,
‘By declaring an MCI, first responders and the hospitals are able to triage and transport multiple patients to different hospitals more efficiently,’ said Daniel Bertucelli, a spokesperson for SBCFD.
‘It was real busy out there!’ he said.
The daytime bash known as Deltopia isn’t sanctioned by the university or formally planned, but it’s a well-known happening the first weekend of the spring quarter in the community next to UC Santa Barbara’s campus and picturesque beachside cliffs.
College students could be seen crowding onto rooftops and balconies in the Isla Vista area
Thousands of people are thought to have packed the streets on Saturday in classic Isla Vista garb – bikinis, flip-flops, tank tops and shorts.
With drinks in hand, they lined yards in front of two-story apartment buildings and crowded overhanging balconies.
Streets were littered in glass and garbage cans overflowing with red cups and bottles, as students tried to shake off a lingering hangover from Friday’s party before it morphed into a raucous and violent blowout in the streets around one of the nation’s best-known party schools.
First responders suddenly became so extremely busy Saturday at about 3:30 p.m. that a triage system had to be implemented in which the most serious cases are given priority for medical emergencies.
Problems with excessive partying have persisted for decades on this roughly half-square-mile that is home to 23,000 people, but the at-times violence has brought out politicians, university officials, police and student leaders to call for more prudent partying.
The event became even more out of control on Saturday with police saying they became ‘inundated with medical calls’
Pictures show thousands on crowded onto streets, beaches, and balconies
The Sheriff’s office switched to a triage system for medical emergencies
The chaos started early on in the weekend with three arrests and 20 citations handed out on the first night of Isla Vista’s Deltopia
Deltopia evolved from Floatopia, which started in 2004 and included a beach part. It has been banned since 2009 after it was deemed an environmental and safety hazard because of trash, human waste and near-drownings.
Since then, beaches are closed that weekend, and the party migrated a block inland to Del Playa Drive.
Authorities ramped up patrols after a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student fell to her death off the cliffs in 2008 and an overcrowded balcony collapsed, injuring several partygoers.
With social media spreading the word, the party has grown in size.