LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Recent rains and cooler temperatures across the region have lowered the threat of wildfires, allowing Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit to transition out of peak fire season effective Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 8 a.m. in Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Solano, Yolo and Colusa counties.
This is the third year in a row that the agency’s operational transition has taken place in November.
Cal Fire will continue to maintain staffing to meet any potential threat, as well as maintaining the ability to strategically move resources to areas that remain at a higher threat level.
The agency also will continue to monitor weather conditions closely and still has the ability to increase staffing should weather conditions change or if there is a need to support wildfires or other emergencies in other areas of the state.
The 2017 fire season has been an extremely active year, even more so than in 2016. Statewide, Cal Fire and firefighters from many local agencies responded to more than 6,000 wildfires within the State Responsibility Area that burned nearly 505,000 acres.
During the cooler winter months, Cal Fire will continue to actively focus efforts on fire prevention and fuels treatment activities as guided by the state’s Strategic Fire Plan and localized unit fire plans.
These will be done through public education, prescribed burns and various types of fuel reduction.
These activities are aimed at reducing the impacts of large, damaging wildfires and improving overall forest health.
Residents are urged to still take precautions outdoors in order to prevent sparking a wildfire.
Before you burn, ensure it is a permissive burn day by contacting the local air quality district and then make sure you have any and all required burn permits.
During burning, make sure that piles of landscape debris are no larger than four feet in diameter, provide a 10-foot clearance down to bare mineral soil around the burn pile and ensure that a responsible adult is in attendance at all times with a water source and a shovel.
For more ways to burn safely visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org.
Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit transitions out of peak fire season
- Lake County News report
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