Though the recent rains have helped tame some active blazes, it's too soon to say goodbye to this year's fire season
A summer of drought, extreme heat and deadly wildfires will end with much-needed rain this week in parts of California, but it is unlikely to douse the threat of wind-driven fires this fall in a state scarred by record-setting heat waves and bone-dry landscapes.
While the end of fire season has long been a race between wind and rain, the state’s extreme heat and drought are dismantling that association. Northern California has fared slightly better, with a big storm this week dropping between 2 and 4 inches of rain across portions of the North Bay coastal ranges and Santa Cruz Mountains. The system also delivered some precipitation further south as it moved through San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.
But while rain can moisten light fuels, such as grass, heavier fuels, including brush and chaparral, take substantially longer to retain water and typically have low moisture levels until spring, according to Heggie. He cautioned against using the label “fire season” in California.Henry Narvaez, a spokesman with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, agreed that dryness remains a top concern.
“It’s very difficult to stop a fire that’s being progressed forward by Santa Ana winds,” Narvaez said. “That’s the other concern that we have — how bad of a Santa Ana season are we going to have, and how bad are the winds going to be?”
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