It’s San Diego’s first week not being in a drought.
Residents finally get a sigh of relief, but with Santa Ana winds on the way and fewer seasonal crews at hand, Firefighters aren’t letting their guard down.
San Diego County started off this water year in October in a severe to extreme drought.
But finally, the rain came.
Atmospheric rivers drenched the county in November, bringing some spots up to four inches of rain, and pulling San Diego into an abnormally dry category and out of a drought.
“It gives us a sigh of relief,” said CAL FIRE Captain Mike Cornette, who is well aware of those changes.
“So if we do have a vegetation fire right now, it's going to be slower burning, and we're going to be able to pick it up with less resources,” said Cornette.
With more moisture in the ground, the fight gets a bit easier.
“We have certain areas that we rely on ponds or lakes, and in certain years, in the drought, those resources could be dried up. We still try to fight fire with water, and that's the most effective, effective use of our resources,” said Cornette.
With or without water, crews are taking action, just in case.
“We take advantage of this wet weather, especially around the county, to put in those fuel brakes, prescribed burns, any pre-fire measure that we can take,” said Cornette.
Just because the weather gets colder doesn’t mean fire-prone conditions stop.
Santa Ana winds are in the forecast- the same powerful gusts that fueled the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires earlier this year.
“Typically we, we saw this last January that we had really strong Santa Ana's, with the dry conditions. Now we have a little bit of moisture, and the fuel moistures are starting to come up with that. That still raises our awareness because there is still that threat of, of, of vegetation fire in San Diego,” said Cornette.
CAL FIRE recommends people use this wet and cool weather to create a defensible space around their house.
You can also reduce the risk of a fire by setting your own, but one that burns green waste, in CAL FIRE’s residential burning program.
