Recent weeks have brought heavy rain and snow throughout California which is typically a sign that the wildfire season is over. This was recently confirmed by Scott McLean, Deputy Chief of Communications of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, who said they are now taking steps to transition into a new season, providing a re-cap of the 2019 fire season thus far in comparison to previous years. This comes as great news as residents throughout California are recovering from 6,872 dreadful wildfire incidents during 2019.
McLean discussed how California is now transitioning into what he called Winter Preparedness. He claims that the main indication of the end of peak wildfire season is that CalFire has started down-staffing seasonal employees across the state with December 9th being the final day of employment.
How did 2019 compare to previous years?
The 2019 wildfire season proved to be much tamer than previous years. Around 253,000-254,000 acres have burned in comparison to 780,000 last year. 723 structures have been lost, while 22,704 structures were lost in 2018. Roughly 18,000 of those were solely from the Camp Fire in Paradise. 10,922 structures were lost in 2017.
What was different this year?
According to McLean, weather played a major role in this year’s wildfire season. In addition, there was an increase in staff (around 400 seasonal employees), increase in fuel reduction projects and increase in forrest resiliency. More specifically, there were 13 new fire engines and 35 fuel reduction projects. CalFire had a whopping $2.5 billion budget in addition to suppression costs at $691 million, with only $200 million spent so far. The governor’s office and the state also provided extra personnel and equipment playing a large role this season.
What strategies are in place for future wildfire seasons?
CalFire has quite a few strategies laid out. These include new technology (such as detecting fires with satellites), working with other companies to determine how fire spreads, indirect attacks, 12 new aircrafts (each to carry 1,000 gallons of waters) and 7 new C130s (each to carry 4,000 gallons of retardant).
Although the end of wildfire season comes as great news, it does not mean that we should stop being prepared. Wildfires can spread at rapid speeds without warning, so it is essential to be prepared at all times. For more information on wildfire preparedness, go to the CalFire’s website here.
To contact our team, please email russellandtony@compass.com or call our office at 310.230.5771.
*All information was gathered from an ABC10 report. To view current stats, please visit the CalFire website here.
