CalFire worried about early, bad fire season
By Kate Mather, Los Angeles Times
CalFire is beefing up its staffing in anticipation of a fire season officials worry could be affected by an “extremely” dry winter, the agency announced.
CalFire has hired and trained seasonal firefighters that will help staff seasonal stations and some helicopters “around the clock,” according to a department statement.
The agency announced Monday it had begun “transitioning into fire season” in San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
The agency said a snow survey conducted in late March indicated low snow levels, as the Northern Sierra Nevada received only 5.5 inches of rain between January and March — a potential record low. CalFire officials are “concerned about the impact to this year’s fire season.”
Officials asked Southern California homeowners to take recommended precautions, including: clearing 100 feet of defensible space around their homes; removing needles and leaves from roofs and rain gutters; trimming branches 6 feet off the ground, and using powered lawn and landscaping equipment in cooler morning hours.
Catastrophic fire conditions still exist in all 10 Western states as all the ‘big tree’ forests are in the west. . .that being said, CA State Divison of Forestry & Fire Protection became CalFire as it is easier to get Federal funding for an imminent fire season than it is for the not-as-obvious need to better steward an obviously important asset like our forests. . .
The healthier a forest, the more it can withstand beetle infestation & fire, and safeguard our air & water supplies as the forest is also our biggest absorber of CO2: the carbon becomes the building material in growing the tree, then emits the oxygen as fresh air, the reason a “walk-in-the-woods” is so enjoyable.
Part of that ‘stewardship’ on the part of the homeowner includes defensible space, techniques like mulching to allow the soil to be in better condition, and the gathering & ‘gutter’ work mentioned. It improves & secures the neighborhood as well, shifting the onus away from a ‘fire danger’ to a healthy ecosystem.
Coupling that shift to more stewardship for our forest resource, the lessened ‘fire danger’ then allows for less of a knee-jerk reaction to our use of government funds. . . we’ll all feel safer and more secure at that point, due to this level of awareness.