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Photo: Interior Secretary Sally Jewell thanks a Golden Eagle hotshot firefighter from the Bureau of Indian Affairs
By Nadin Abbott
Photos by Nadin and Tom Abbott
May 8, 2014 (Spring Valley) The number of fires this year is higher than normal. Interstate 8 has closed due to fires twice already this year during the Gun Fire at Mount Laguna and the Jacumba fire just this week. Drought and climate change are key factors, officials warn—and this could be our worse wildfire season on record.
“The drought is expanding throughout the state of California” as well as the Southwest region, said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell during a Wildfire Awareness Week event at CAL FIRE Headquarters in Spring Valley on May 6th.
She cited a new report just issued by the White House, noting that climate change “increases the risk from drought.”
According to the report, “Climate change is no longer a distant threat – we are already feeling its impacts across the country and the world. Last year was the warmest year ever in the contiguous United States and about one-third of all Americans experienced 10 days or more of 100-degree heat. The 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15 years. Asthma rates have doubled in the past 30 years and our children will suffer more asthma attacks as air pollution gets worse. And increasing floods, heat waves, and droughts have put farmers out of business, which is already raising food prices dramatically.” View report: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf
Jewell encouraged the people of California to be fire wise and to do their part to stop wildfires. While she did not directly echo the United States Forest Service, the motto from the USFS is “One Less Spark: One less wildfire.”
Secretary Jewell added that climate change is also letting invasive species become established more thoroughly, making them more difficult to eliminate. She highlighted that there is a bipartisan group in Congress working on how to pay for the costs of fires and other weather related disasters. Moreover, she assured that the emergency funds will be there to fight fires this year.
East County Magazine asked about the expansion of the agreement between the Department of Agriculture and the Comision Nacional Forestal in Mexico for unified command, and fighting wildfires along the border. The agreement so far only covers the states of Arizona in the United States and Sonora in Mexico.
This treaty allows for access rights for fire crews from both countries up to ten miles on either side (so they don’t have to watch a structure fire in Mexico, while it burns). It also contemplates a unified command, meaning one person is in charge of the firefighting. The Secretary said that the Federal Government is in “talks with our Mexican counterparts to expand this program to other areas of the border region,” presumably that would include California. http://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc/management_admin/safety/us_mexico_border/documents/operating_plans/emergency_mutual_assistance_operating_plan.pdf
Secretary John Laird from the California Natural Resource Agency emphasized that there is very close cooperation at all levels of government. He also remarked that this year we got 18% of the precipitation we should have gotten. He added, “This has been an unusually warm April,’” which led to more snow melt of the little snow cap we have statewide.
He also told the audience that Northern California went through “52 days in a row without rain, breaking the record set in 1884.” While the water agency collects over 5 million area feet of water normally, this year the level is in the low hundred thousands of acre feet.
CAL FIRE staffed up on April 1st, two months ahead of normal schedule.
“It is incumbent on every individual to work on defensible spaces,” said Laird. He also quoted Governor Jerry Brown, who told the audience in a similar event yesterday in Sacramento, “Don’t do something stupid.”
Now as to firefighting and prevention, all speakers emphasized the need for citizens to do their part. As Director Ken Pimlott from CALFIRE put it. “95% of fires are started by humans.” He also emphasized that the agency has already responded to 45% more fires than usual. http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/communications_newsreleases_dry_winter_2013.php
So what exactly do the authorities want the citizens to do? They recommend you visit Ready San Diego and sign your cell phone for the reverse 911 system. Officials recommend you also register your e-mail
At http://www.readysandiego.org/.
East County Magazine urges that you also sign up for our free emailed Viejas Wildfire Alerts at www.eastcountymagazine and follow ViejasAlerts on Twitter for brief alerts on your mobile phone.
Officials also advise citizens to make a plan, be ready to go, and evacuate if they are asked to leave. It will make the job of firefighters safer, and keep you alive.
They also advise that you visit Ready for Wildfire (http://www.readyforwildfire.org/)for important tips on clearing properties from fire hazards and creating a defensible space.
We in fact, watched properties in Santee, during the Carlton Oaks Fire, that were saved thanks to that defensible space residents had cleared, with damage merely to fencing, not homes.
Just last week, we had at least 10 fires that fire officials attacked vigorously. From my recollection, at least three of them had a potential for what fire officials call extended attack, which means a lot of resources and it will take more than 24 hours to put it out.
Officials are expecting a hot summer. They ask for your cooperation to make it a little less hot for fighters.
Remember, 95% of fires are human caused.
Many lessons have been learned in San Diego County, but one important lesson is that the public plays a key role, too.
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