LAKE COUNTY >> This is shaping up to be a frantic fire season in California. And while Lake County has experienced only small wildland blazes so far this summer, firefighters know the potential for another disastrous season is very real.
“The grass crop is the biggest we’ve had in 15 years,” observed Lake County Fire Protection District chief Willie Sapeta. “The fuels are primed.”
By “fuel,” Sapeta is referring to fields of grass, forest land and other features of what most people think of as nature. Heavy winter rains spurred spring growth that is now parched — something that troubles local chiefs.
“We call it light, flashy fuel,” explained chief Doug Hutchison of the Lakeport Fire Protection District. “It creates a real issue for us.”
Dry grass ignites quickly and is capable of spreading faster than a person can run. And the frustration of professional firefighters grows as the respond to careless actions by people, the cause of most fires.
Crews were called to Spruce Grove Road recently because someone mowing in the midday sun ignited dry grass. A small fire in Clearlake on Monday afternoon was caused by a weedeater.
The news is not good around the state.
The home page of The Tribune in San Luis Obispo says it all. There was this headline: “‘It was all burning’: Firefighters worked to save homes as Stone Fire spread to 340 acres.”
And this one: “A change in weather may help wildfire battles on Central Coast.” Oh, and this one: ”Whittier Fire destroys Outdoor School, Boy Scouts camp along Highway 154”
As of July 9, Cal Fire crews had battled 2,900 fires burning more than 106 square miles. That’s more than twice as much area burned as the average this time of year, which is about 2,500 fires covering 42 square miles.
“We’re well above the average number,” said Cal Fire spokeswoman Heather Williams, who said the amount of burned area skyrocketed in the past week when “we went up drastically. We saw 488 new fires just last week, while statewide, with all departments reporting, we had 633 new fires. So you see how quickly things can change.”
With assistance from many other agencies, the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority quickly put out five fires along Highway 101 Saturday morning.
UVFA Capt. John Strangio said he was first on scene and saw that several fires were burning along Highway 101 near Cox-Schrader Road.
“I saw that the first one was completely surrounded by roads, so I continued on to the next ones,” Strangio said, adding that he and firefighter Rickey Dean then “literally ran from fire to fire to put out the other four.”
Firefighters were assisted first by a Calstar helicopter that was already in the air and was able to describe the fires to dispatchers, he said, then two engines from Cal Fire, and Hopland Fire Department Chief Mitch Franklin responded and took command of the incident.
The Whittier Fire, just five percent contained by late Sunday, is threatening the college-crashpad community of western Goleta, just west of UC Santa Barbara. Firefighters over the weekend were able to quickly stamp out a blaze in Morro Bay that had reportedly been set off by two sky lanterns, or floating candles. And some 5,400 structures were in the path of the Wall Fire in and around Oroville before crews began blunting its progress.
By Monday morning, thousands of firefighters were battling more than a dozen fires throughout California. On the Central Coast, crews were trying to contain the Parkfield Fire near San Miguel, the Stone Fire near Santa Margarita, the Whittier Fire near Lake Cachuma and the Alamo Fire near Santa Maria, which is the largest fire in the state. A reported 8,000 people have been evacuated statewide.
Franklin said the cause of the fires is under investigation, but the fires along Highway 101 are believed to have been accidentally started, likely either from chains or a tire on the highway.
“We want people to maintain situational awareness,” Sapeta said.
By that he means a common sense approach — knowing, for example, that a single accidental spark can ignite a large fire. Or that all mowing should take place in the early morning hours.
Yet fire chiefs understand they can seem at cross purposes. They urge residents to trim grass around houses, fences and structures as a safety measure.
“As much as we encourage people to mow, they have to be really careful and really smart,” Hutchison explained.
The hills around Lakeport have been spared for several years. While Hutchison points out that fuel levels are high even on lands scorched by the fires of 2015 and 2016, he considers the threat in the county’s northern reaches to be severely elevated.
For now, however, local crews are thankful for the comparative calm. They have directed resources to Cal Fire stations in the county as those crews deployed around the state. And they have pounced on a number of small blazes.
Sapeta explains that districts order more crews, more resources, than is generally necessary to smoke checks, just in case.
“It’s nice to hear ‘forward progress stopped, cancel other units,’” he said.
