Rainy winter only delayed wildfire season, officials say
Even though a record amount of rain dropped on Southern California this winter, fire officials said it's only delaying the inevitable.
State and local fire departments said that the lush vegetation that has graced the Southern California landscape thanks to the rain, will soon become a liability when wildfire season starts. Firefighters believe that when it dries up it will provide a lot of fuel for potentially damaging blazes.
Los Angeles County Fire Department Captain Sheila Kelliher-Berkoh said fire activity has already started with a brush fire sparking in Lutle Creek last week and another in Eastvale yesterday. The captain implored residents to start their brush clearance now.
"That's making sure that first zone, the first 30 feet, clear out all that dead brush, all that debris, remove the wood piles, that's huge," said Kelliher-Berkoh. "The next 100 feet, trim those grass down to three inches, weeds down to three inches and as you move a little further out, you're looking at a 200-foot buffer around your structure."
On Wednesday, Southern California Edison officials showed how the utility is preparing for peak fire season. They said that they have installed fire-resistant power poles and high-tech weather forecasting technology to determine the severity of a Santa Ana Wind event.
"We've replaced over 4500 miles, or over 45%, of our distribution lines in our high-fire risk areas," said SCE principal manager Cameron McPherson.
