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Lacking a true, heavy rain El Niño presence in Southern California this year and rising global temperatures, fire officials throughout the Southland came together recently to warn people to take precautions, maintain your properties and shrubbery and be prepared.
Michael Moore, Riverside fire chief, said this will be a “critical” fire season.
“We’ve seen a big change in our brush growth this year,” he said. “So some of our annual crops, our grass, are a lot higher than they previously have been. We do still have some of our dead trees in the local mountains that will create problems for us, so we’re expecting, …one of the worst fire seasons ever.”
Moore noted that people in wildfire-prone areas need to plan for the future by creating a plan for evacuation if a fire threat becomes a reality.
“Being prepared to go and being able to leave early, getting your bags packed and knowing what your escape routes will be — and then when we have those evacuations that come into play they’re ready to leave early,” he said.
Fire officials indicated that surveys of brush growth should provide a call to action for people to clear brush from around their homes to help firefighters if a fire does start. It will provide a defensible space if a wildfire does break out that can help stop or slow a fire’s spread.
According to Daryl Osby, Los Angeles County Fire Department chief, what little presence El Niño had in Southern California was just enough rain to promote the growth of grass and brush that encourages summer fires.
“There is a significant amount of dead fuels in the region, as indicated by the fire that we had last week in Topanga, the Calabasas area,” Osby said. “We had a fire there that burned over 500 acres. We had to evacuate over 5,000 people. That fire was unprecedented in this region. Typically, the fuels are not dry enough in this region until late summer or fall to have a fire there.
“… So that could be an indicator in relation to this upcoming fire season,” Osby said.
Brian Humphrey, public information officer for the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) that firefighting agencies throughout Southern California work cooperatively and prepared for all possible scenarios, including the worst. Whether it’s LAFD, CAL FIRE, the Angeles National Forest staff, the County Fire Department or various smaller agencies Humphrey said, “Long before we stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the wildfire, we’re going face-to-face to plan for this. It’s strategic, it’s a paramilitary operation battling fire, but we need you as a partner.”
David Teter, deputy director for fire protection programs for CAL FIRE acknowledged that the current “June gloom” and damp days will be short-lived.
“It is only a matter of time, so the time to begin to prepare is now,” he said. “Despite the cool, foggy weather that we’re under this morning, it will not last, and the Santa Ana winds will be upon us before we know it. Residents must be prepared for the inevitable wildfires, because it is part of living in this beautiful state.”
Visit CAL FIRE’s website at www.readyforwildfire.org for tips to prepare for fire season.
