Local CAL FIRE crews prepare for busy fire season
Fire departments across the state are expecting a busy fire season ahead. In fact, CAL FIRE crews are already back in King City for some training and refresher courses. This week, the Central Coast is expecting some April showers, but fire officials said they’re likely to bring a higher risk of wildfire.
They said they’re already seeing signs of what they could be facing later this spring and summer.
“We’re running to fires already,” CAL FIRE Batt. Chief Richard Lopez said.
The most recent was a small fire on Saturday. On Monday, 57 seasonal CAL FIRE firefighters came back to the King City CAL FIRE facility. After completing paperwork and some tests, they picked up their gear, inspected it and made sure it was safe to use for fighting wildfires.
This year, they’re arriving a lot earlier than usual, and all of the preparation is happening six weeks early this year. It usually starts at the end of May or early June. Firefighters said the preparations they make now will help ensure they’re ready for the work that’s ahead.
“You have to know the end goal. You’re doing things for the state, but also for the firefighter next to you. You want to help them out, make their job easier too,” firefighter Michael Arnaldo said.
“Gotta get yourself in a good mindset and stay positive. Keep upbeat around the station and luckily it helps working with good people. That helps a lot,” firefighter Katie Delucchi said.
CAL FIRE said the stage was set for this fire season long before it started. Dry conditions that are definitely having an impact on this year’s outlook.
“We’re already showing this will be a busy year ‘cause the fuel moisturizes never recovered from the last three years of drought so there’s still that critical levels for burning and now we have the grass that can carry the fire to those dried out piles of brush, that dead brush and it’s not a very bright outlook,” Lopez said.
Firefighters will be in King City for a week, getting a lot of hands-on training on Wednesday and Thursday.
