Rain, storm threatens Northern California wildfire burn scar areas
AUBURN -- A series of Pacific storms are expected to slam into northern California and the concern for flooding is rising. Flood watches are in effect through late Saturday night due to excessive rain and melting snow.
In burn-scarred areas like the Mosquito Fire footprint in Placer County or the 2021 Caldor Fire that burned in the El Dorado National Forest and other parts of the Sierra, precipitation can lead to landslides. As of Friday afternoon, no mudslides had been reported, according to Cal Fire and a spokesperson for the forest service.
Burn scars are areas with little vegetation, typically, with darker soil that repels water instead of absorbing it. When precipitation falls on hillsides scorched by fire, the potential for the ground to shift causing landslides, increases.
"We are better prepared, better staffed, better trained, and really better prepared today than we have been in the past, in my opinion," said Cal Fire Chief Brian Estes.
Estes has three decades of experience and says in that time, the mission of Cal Fire has evolved to respond to natural disasters and incidents that are larger and have been more devastating.
"Obviously, we're going to have to see what the next 24 to 36 hours will bring," said Estes.
In September 2022, the Mosquito Fire began in Placer County and came towards the town of Foresthill. In the drier months following the fire, Cal Fire focused on erosion control and fire line-suppression repair.
A spokesperson for the El Dorado National Forest told CBS13 the risk for landslides is still there, even a year later. To prevent this, repair work has been done in multiple burn-scarred areas. There was prep work done to clean out culverts and ditches to improve drainage systems. Dips were added to prevent water from accumulating on dirt roads, which are now closed to vehicle use for the season.
"The storms last week involved more snow than rain over the fire area, which holds water on the surface so there was less potential impact. Rain on snow has potential for a lot of water runoff because it adds melting snow to the rain." USDA spokesperson Jennifer Chapman told CBS13 in a statement.
Cal Fire is also staffed with heavy equipment, hand crews, rescue crews, and the standard staffing over the course of this storm to respond quickly in the event of an emergency.
