Workers with Davey Resource Group assess the damage to the trees in a neighbourhood of Boulder Creek, California, hit by fires. Photo / AP
California's firefighting agency is in talks with the National Guard and California Conservation Corps about providing reinforcements as an already devastating wildfire season threatens to get even worse.
Lightning-sparked fires that have grown to some of the largest in state history have pushed firefighters to the breaking point as they also deal with complications from the coronavirus pandemic and depleted inmate crews.
"Historically it's September and October when we experience our largest and our most damaging wildfires. So to be in the middle of August and already have the second- and the third-largest wildfires in our state's history is very concerning to us," Daniel Berlant, chief of wildfire planning and engineering at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said today.
SHOW OF SUPPORT: A crowd gathered early this morning to cheer on firefighters headed into the Santa Cruz Mountains to battle one of the many wildfires burning across California. https://t.co/WSfXRgTJ9D pic.twitter.com/pB9Q2E9SRF
— ABC News (@ABC) August 25, 2020
For now, cooler temperatures are helping firefighters begin to corral three huge clusters of fires ignited August 15.
The blazes have killed at least seven people, burned nearly 1300 homes and other buildings, and prompted evacuation orders that still affect an estimated 170,000 people.
Firefighters in wine country north of San Francisco have cleared containment lines — used to prevent fires from spreading — around a quarter of the fires there that have scorched more than 1425 sq km and destroyed more than 930 buildings. To the east of San Francisco, firefighters created containment lines around 15 per cent of a group of fires that have charred more than 1470 sq km.
The fires are now the second and third-largest in state history.
And to the south, officials said progress was made against fires in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties that have grown to 318.5 sq km, destroyed 330 structures and threatens another 25,000.
Big Basin State Park's “historic core,” including its headquarters, campgrounds and amphitheater built in the 1930s were lost in the blaze. https://t.co/YBoNDF1R0T
— Smithsonian Magazine (@SmithsonianMag) August 25, 2020
With limited crews to tackle fires on the ground, the state has been relying more on bulldozers, aircraft and firefighters from other states and the federal Government, Berlant said.
"We are having ongoing discussions with the National Guard as well as with the (California Conservation Corps) on how we can expand, if needed, the number of crews," he said.
The hand crews do what Governor Gavin Newsom calls "the really hard grunt work" — using chainsaws and hand tools to scrape and cut road-like clearings through grass, brush and trees in remote areas in hopes of stopping the spread of a wildfire.
The severe challenges have occurred even before the traditional peak of fire season, when hot, dry autumn winds can send flames roaring faster than any attempts to contain them.
"We have to continue to plan for seeing if there are additional resources" not only within California, but what would be quickly available from nearby states, Berlant said.
One telling aspect of California wildfires is that the number of fires has actually declined while average area burned has increased more than three-fold. Its changing conditions – dryer fuels from a changing climate, greater fuel loading from fire suppression – that are to blame pic.twitter.com/6dA5iFlHLP
— Zeke Hausfather (@hausfath) August 24, 2020
Despite the size of the current fires, California has benefited because the three huge fire clusters are all in the northern part of the state and began just as firefighters could be redeployed after wrapping up several blazes in Southern California, Berlant said.
Tim Edwards, president of the union representing state firefighters, said 96 per cent of Cal Fire's resources are committed to fighting the fires. He was with a three-man fire engine crew that had travelled more than 645km from Riverside County to help fight the wine country wildfires.
"Between the fires in Southern California and these, they've been going nonstop," he said. "Fatigue is really starting to set in, but they're doing it."
"Why California’s wildfires keep getting worse" by @NicoleKarlis for @Salon: https://t.co/QK8AErqYOf
— Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) August 25, 2020
By today, more than 280 hand crews, each with 12 to 20 firefighters, were deployed to the lines by Cal Fire, the conservation corps, state corrections department and US Forest Service.
About 300 Guard troops were finishing firefighter training and were expected to be on the lines tomorrow as another 300 begin four days of training, said spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Shiroma.
California has scrambled over recent years to field enough prison fire crews as their numbers dwindled while the state released lower-level inmates. Thousands more were released early as the state responded to the coronavirus pandemic.
California wildfires grow to size of Grand Canyon as NASA images show smoke engulfing state https://t.co/QU3kPIdNSn
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) August 25, 2020
The number of inmate firefighters is down nearly 30 per cent from last year, from 1895 to 1354, said corrections department spokesman Aaron Francis.
However, a dozen inmate firefighting camps that had been forced to shut down in June for two-week quarantines because of the coronavirus are back in operation, meaning all 43 camps are operating but at about 40 per cent of capacity, Francis said.
Newsom has dedicated US$72.4 million to hire 858 additional seasonal firefighters and field six more California Conservation Corps crews through October.
"During this extreme fire activity it's all hands on deck," Berlant said.
- AP