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“We will be dropping water at night this summer.” – Chief Tony Mecham (photo, left)
By Miriam Raftery
June 3, 2025 (San Diego) – “The largest economic threat in San Diego County is a large, devastating fire,” says Tony Mecham, County Fire Chief and Cal Fire Unit Chief. But he told a crowd of fire safe council members during the San Diego Regional Fire Foundation’s SAFE awards on May 19, “We have something that’s working in San Diego.”
During the event, Chief Mecham praised efforts of fire safe council volunteers to reduce fire risk. He also announced new firefighting aircraft and equipment for our region, gave an outlook on this year’s severe fire potential amid drought conditions, and shared his experiences and lessons learned from battling major fires including the Eaton Fire that ravaged Los Angeles County in January, and shared concerns over federal budget cuts.
“Starting July 1,federal support is going away, so we are moving state fire engineers into some areas," he said, adding that he is unsure whether federal or state grants will continue for things like fire hardening.
New firefighting aircraft and equipment for San Diego County
The good news is that some major new firefighting tools are on the way.
“A new helicopter is coming to San Diego,” says Chief Mecham. It will be staffed 24/7 for fire dropping.”
This summer, a CH47 helicopter will be available with staffing from 2 a.m. to 3 p.m., which can be increased to 24/7 staffing. “We will be dropping water at night this summer,” Chief Mecham announced.
In addition, a C-130 air tanker will be coming to Ramona once an upgrade is done to the Ramona airport, likely next February or March. “We will be staffing it from August through October in the meantime, but we must park and reload elsewhere for now,” Mecham says.
New staffing for fire engines is coming to Pauma Valley, Otay Mesa, and the State Route 94 corridor from Dulzura to Jamul, the latter to address border fires.
County Fire recently bought two new water tenders and is asking Supervisors for permanent staffing.
That decision came out of the Los Angeles Fires, where water systems ran dry and hydrants failed to work.
“There isn’t a water system in the world” that can withstand such a massive fire burning so many homes at once, he explained. “When we have a major fire, we will lose the water system.”
The Eaton Fire
Chief Mecham, in his role with Cal Fire, was called to help out during the Eaton Fire. He arrived to find 4,000 to 5,000 structures on fire. “We knew the fatality count would be severe. The Altadena community was gone—schools burned, the business community burned.”
Although Mecham had lived through the 2003 Cedar Fire and 2007 firestorms in San Diego County, the Eaton Fire was different in one chilling factor. “There was no water,” the Chief recalls. “The Governor wanted water—100 water tenders...a representative from the Governor (Gavin Newsom) said `Get things done.’”
A state team came in to manage the crisis, ordering 500 search and rescue professionals. FEMA came with 200 damage inspectors and other inspectors. Google and Apple stepped up to donate computers for kids who lost not only their computers, but their schools as well.
Fires are getting larger and more destructive
From 1980 to 1
999, fires locally burned dozens of structures, remaining relatively small. But climate change has led to hotter, drier conditions.
From 2000 and up, Southern California has seen “huge fires” notably the 2003 and 2007 firestorms locally that burned hundreds of thousands of acres, destroyed thousands of homes, and killed 28 people.
Then came the Los Angeles fires, which occurred in January, demonstrating that fire season is now year-round. The Los Angeles area fires, which also burned portions of adjacent counties, burned14,000 acres—less geographically than the San Diego firestorms. But Chief Mecham notes, “Nine thousand structures destroyed is a community disaster.” The loss is in the billions, possibly over a trillion dollars—the largest cost of any natural disaster in U.S. history.
More improvements locally for fire protection
Since the fires of 2003 and 2007, San Diego County has improved interagency communication and cooperation. “All the fire chiefs, we’re all friends,” says Mecham. “We just want a fire engine to show up. We share mapping and communication channels, and non-traditional partners with all of you,” referring to the fire-safe council volunteers in the audience.
In addition, he notes, ”We have standardized evacuation procedures and increased firefighting capability in our region.”
The Genasys Alert system provides evacuation maps, updated online in real time. “We standardized our approach with primary, alternative, contingency and emergency evacuation routes,” says Mecham, adding, “We’re more surgical in evacuations now.”
He also praised SDG&E's efforts to prevent wildfires and said Cal Fire relies on forecasts from SDG&E's team of meteorologists.
The Community Risk Reduction Program, created in 2019, aims to reduce fire risk through structure preparedness, wildland preparedness, mitigation and public education. “We’re taking this statewide,” Mecham adds.
He emphasizes that wildfire readiness is “not just response time. We could have had another 200 engines on the Eaton and Palisades fires and it wouldn’t have made a difference.”
What does make a difference? Creating defensible space around your home. The state is rolling out new zone-zero requirements to get rid of flammable materials within five feet of homes in state-controlled areas. Provide clearance further out and trim trees to avoid providing fuel ladders for fires to climb and spread.
“If you do not care to do the clearance around your house, I do not care to risk my firefighters’ lives,” Mecham says bluntly. “You can rebuld a home. You can’t bring back loved ones.” He adds that help is still needed, however, to help seniors and others who are unable to do clearance themselves around their residences.
Other important factors include fire-wise landscaping, hardscaping around your home, and retrofitting such as adding ember resistant vents, since “most homes burn due to embers in the attic,” Mecham advises.
Stricter fire codes for buildings were enacted in 2019 and made more stringent in 2024.
Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) are trained to help local communities during a disaster, while Fire Safe Councils provide valuable services such as wood-chipping of debris. San Diego County has 54 fire safe councils—the most of any county in the nation.
Cal Fire is also doing controlled burns to reduce fuel, using a “Vibrant Planet” software to run simulations and determine best locations for fuel breaks. They recently created a fuel break around Crest, a community at very high risk of wildfire.
Over 100 communities here now have wildfire pre-plans and 47 have Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP).
“We’ll come and talk to your communities about wildfires,” Mecham offers, noting the importance of educating residents on steps to take to protect homes from wildfires—and how to prepare in case a wildfire does occur.
Chief Mecham advises everyone to have a go bag, a fire-resistant safe for valuables, and an evacuation plan.
“When you leave, make sure your neighbor goes with you,” he advises.
2025 Fire Outlook
“We are definitely in drought conditions. Fuels are dry and ready to burn,” says Mecham.” While it’s impossible to know exactly what the rest of the year will bring, he advises, “We have to continue to prepare.”
As grasses dry out in late June, above-average fire danger countywide is forecast for July and August. By September and October, it will be “bone dry” across our region.
Mecham shows a map prepared by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Drought Manager that shows solid red across our region and much of California. “Red is bad,” he notes.
Chief Mecham concludes, “All predictions are lining up for the potential for above-average large, damaging fires.”
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