The grass is drying out, the wind is blowing, and heat is picking up in parts of the Tri-Counties. High wildfire season is arriving, in some areas sooner than others, but it is that time of year.
Santa Barbara County, along with the city, state, and federal agencies they work with, have declared the start of high fire season.
It means they beef up staffing, and when there’s a brush fire call, THEY send extra resources to try to keep a small fire from becoming a big one.
"We've been fighting brush fires for about a month here in the county," said Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig.
There have been a number of fires during the last few weeks in northern Santa Barbara County, especially in the Cuyama Valley.
The chief said right now, the fire threat is the tale of two climates. The Central Coast has had some hot, dry windy weather which has pushed some fuels into the danger zone. But, things aren’t as critical on the South Coast.
"We'll probably have a later fire season on the South Coast. We track it with the live fuel moisture. Right now, our fuel moistures are high enough in the South County, we're not at those levels," said Hartwig. "But here already (in the Santa Ynez Valley) we're starting to see fuel moistures that will carry fire...which will establish itself in a fuel bed, and then carry fire to other fuel beds."
"In the last few weeks, we've seen a significant conversion of fuels to become what we call receptive. The grasses turn first, and as soon as they turn brown, that's our indicator that things are about to happen," said Santa Barbara City Fire Chief Chris Mailes.
He admits it’s hard to know what will happen during peak fire season, because of the factors like heat and wind involved.
"Right now, the fuel moistures in our heavy fuels are still pretty high, because they take a lot longer to become receptive, to become fuel moisture starved, but as we move on in the season, it's going to become a whole lot worse," said Mailes.
Public safety officials gathered in front of fire trucks and a helicopter at Santa Ynez Airport for a news conference to try to call attention to the issue. The big message was preparedness, which means things like doing brush clearance around your property, and having a plan should a fire occur.
Santa Barbara County Undersheriff Craig Bonner said it also means not waiting until the last minute to evacuate.
"When you start feeling unsafe, get out early. Don't wait," said Bonner. "There are a lot of people who get it (evacuating early) because they've been through it. "There are also people who've gotten away with it (not leaving early) for so many years. We'll have some people who will wait until they can see the fire. When you see a fire, that means it's too late. It's here."
Parts of the Tri-Counties still haven’t declared that they are in high fire season yet, because fuel moistures haven’t dropped into the danger zone. Ventura County may not move into its high season until the end of this month.
But, it’s coming statewide. While no one wants to make predictions, firefighters do say that grassy fuels which are normally waist high are now taller than a person because of the heavy rainfall season. Those grassy fuels can give a brush fire a quick burning start which feeds into denser, and harder to fight vegetation like chaparral.
Firefighters said they have one simple message: They’ll say we’ll be ready, but you should also be ready.
Sign up for disaster alerts in Santa Barbara County at readysbc.org.
In Ventura County, you can get alerts at vcemergency.com
