Central Coast not out of the woods yet when it comes to wildfire season

UPDATE 8/25/2017 5 p.m.:

As of right now, it appears as though Monterey and San Benito Counties are being spared the brunt of a brutal fire season. But, the threat isn’t over.

New numbers from Cal Fire show from January 1-August 20, 2017, there were 4,398 fires in California that burned 223,526 acres. In 2016, there were 3,383 fires that burned 198,818 acres.

Cal Fire officials say between Monterey and San Benito Counties, there have been 43 fires that have burnt only 248 acres in 2017. At this point last year, the Soberanes Fire burned more than 90,000 acres.

“People are a lot more aware of ignition possibilities and we’ve done a lot of work around the coastal area here in fuel reduction,” said Capt. John Spooner. “So I think those two factors have helped to reduce the starts and the size of the fires. Also we’ve had some fairly mild weather conditions and that is contributed to keeping the fires, the number of fires and the acreage low.”

This comes when we are weeks away from peak fire season. Grass and brush get drier throughout the summer and by the time fall hits, conditions can be like a tinderbox. That’s why they’re encouraging people to maintain defensible space.

Zone 1
Zone 1 extends 30 feet* out from buildings, structures, decks, etc.
— Remove all dead plants, grass and weeds (vegetation).
— Remove dead or dry leaves and pine needles from your yard, roof and rain gutters.
— Trim trees regularly to keep branches a minimum of 10 feet from other trees.
— Remove branches that hang over your roof and keep dead branches 10 feet away from your chimney.
— Relocate wood piles into Zone 2.
— Remove or prune flammable plants and shrubs near windows.
— Remove vegetation and items that could catch fire from around and under decks.
— Create a separation between trees, shrubs and items that could catch fire, such as patio furniture, wood piles, swing sets, etc.

Zone 2
Zone 2 extends 100 feet out from buildings, structures, decks, etc.
— Cut or mow annual grass down to a maximum height of 4 inches.
— Create horizontal spacing between shrubs and trees. (See diagram)
— Create vertical spacing between grass, shrubs and trees. (See diagram)
— Remove fallen leaves, needles, twigs, bark, cones, and small branches. However, they may be permitted to a depth of 3 inches.

The Detwiler Fire in Mariposa County has been one of the destructive fires we have seen this year. Capt. Spooner was deployed to that fire, and said it was reminiscent of the Soberanes Fire. Both are in areas with rugged terrain, where firefighters had a hard time getting access to it, forcing them to use indirect methods to contain the fire.

ORIGINAL POST:

Monterey and San Benito counties have been spared the brunt of the fire season so far this year, but Cal Fire says the threat isn’t over yet.

As of this week, there have been 4,398 fires in California, burning more than 223,526 acres. That’s more than last year, with 3,383 fires burning 198,818 acres.

Cal Fire BEU says between Monterey and San Benito Counties there have been 43 fires burning 248 acres of local state and federal lands of August 22.

We have been relatively unscathed because at this point in time, the Soberanes Fire burned more than 90,000 acres.

This comes ahead of the peak fire season when conditions are ripe for more fires.

Coming up at 11:00, KION’s Mariana Hicks finds out some reasons what’s behind the area’s low fire numbers.