Fire Season in Southern California – Again!

A high-pressure system over Nevada brought us strong Santa Ana winds from the east  yesterday. The only thing different from the usual Santa Ana is that it is chilly here. It is down to 40 deg. or less at night, and has been less than 70 in the daytime. But the people who know about these things say conditions are just as conducive to wildfires as if it were very hot.

Several days ago my daughter Jane, among thousands of other people in the county, received a packet of information from the San Diego Gas and Electric saying that whenever a certain five conditions existed at the same time they planned to shut off electricity in the area. They expected those conditions to exist here yesterday and expected to shut off the electricity for at least 24 hours. The conditions are:

The Red Flag warnings are flying

Wind speeds are at least 35 mph with gusts up to 55 mph

The relative humidity less than 20-%

The moisture level in sticks, twigs and leaves (non-living material) less than 6%

The moisture level in living plants less than or equal to 75%

All conditions were almost met yesterday but thankfully SDGE didn't cut off the electricity.

The reason for this plan is because last year one fire here on the border was started from friction from a slack wire blowing in the wind and causing sparks. Someone sued them. I guess they feel they can't keep all their wires tight.

Yesterday two fires started in the north part of the county on Camp Pendleton that caused several thousands of people to have to evacuate - including families of marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. This morning the wind was even stronger, and another fire had broken out about 10 miles from where I live here on the Mexican border east of Campo. I expect there to be a report that it was started by illegal border-crossers that started a fire to keep themselves warm. It's happened before. It started about 2:30 A.M. and people from about 300 homes, mostly small ranches, had to evacuate immediately, leaving their farm animals behind.

This time it turned out OK, and I credit it entirely to the fire crews. We have volunteer fire departments, and the combined forces of the fire crews of Potrero, Campo, Boulevard, Jacumba, and the Campo Band of Indians got on that fire right away during the night. Other help came in at daylight. They had it under control by 9 AM, and out by 1 PM except for checking for hot spots. They had air support as well after daylight.

All the time the wind was blowing hard, and by 9 AM the I-8 freeway was shut down completely just because of the wind for about 30 miles east of me to 30 miles west in Imperial County at the bottom of the mountain grade.

I saw an interview with a couple in the Campo fire area who had provided shelter for animals in the terrible fires last year. This year the fire came to them. They had a very good firebreak around their property that saved their house, but the pig coop in the pig enclosure burned down. There were 30 pigs and a lot of baby piglets that managed to keep far enough away from the flames that they had only minor injuries. A horse had a burn spot on his rump where an ember must have landed. If the fire had threatened the ranch in the daytime, or after there was time to organize, the animals would have been rescued by an organization that goes in and rescues animals under very dangerous circumstances.

Although the wind was blowing the fire away from this horse camp where I live, I know that sometimes fires cause winds of their own and they can surprise you. So I began to plan evacuation for me and my daughter seven miles away. Jane now has more cats and dogs than I do and about a dozen chickens as well. I took her an extra cat carrier that would hold some of her kittens (all rescued), and she has containers for the rest. But I don't know how, in a real emergency we are ever going to fit my 8 cats and 2 big dogs, and her 13 cats and 4 dogs, plus the chickens and her computer into my one 4-cylinder Toyota pickup. She doesn't have a car. It's going to take two trips, and the only safe place I know is 15 miles away in the park by the library in Jacumba.

The Indian reservations here have been lucky. It has been a long time, maybe over 15 years since there has been a wildfire. The band of Indians that own this horse camp where I live have bulldozed a lot of firebreaks during the last two years, and the camp is fairly safe. But just a mile away on the 34,000 acre (I think) Campo Band of Indians Reservation there is very old growth chaparral that would burn very hot and very fast. It could cut off our means of escape.

So many of these fires are started by human error or by arsonists, The people who come here are mostly seasoned campers who have been hauling their horses here over these dirt roads for years and years. Maybe the firebugs like main roads best so they can get away fast.

The Indians have been managing fires, both intentional burns and wildfires, forever, and they know how to do it well if left on their own. I feel safer living here almost alone than if I lived down in the white man's village.