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Season of high fire danger ending

By Samantha Yale Scroggin/Staff Writer

There’s always a risk of wildfires, but local agencies have announced that the danger is now significantly less with winter settling in.

On Monday, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department began its annual transition from “high fire season” to “low fire season,” reducing its resources in response to the decreased risk of fire.

Andrew Madsen, spokesman for Los Padres National Forest, said the forest would also be moving into the low-fire-danger category this week.

Similarly, the state’s woodland fire department, Cal Fire, reduced its seasonal wildland firefighting resources the previous week, and the U.S. Forest Service eased fire restrictions in Los Padres National Forest on Monday.

Madsen said that Los Padres National Forest was in a “good spot” in terms of conditions that would discourage fire, with a substantial quantity of rain falling last week.

“I think we’ve got enough moisture out there on the ground that we’ll be OK,” he said.

Madsen added that while there are always mudslide concerns in the forest, there hadn’t been a deluge of rain that would worsen the threat.

Capt. David Sadecki with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department said the decision to declare the start of low fire season takes into account the amount of moisture in vegetation, the current weather and the expected weather.

“We had some rains early in the season, but we still had the low fuel-moisture levels,” he said.

With the rain having returned, this time with cold weather and an unlikelihood of warm winds, county firefighters determined the time is right to end high fire season.

Property owners with a valid permit may resume burning in the county.

Officials cautioned that despite the decreased risk, however, wildfires are still possible during the winter months.

County firefighters said that staffing could be increased based on need.

“It seems like during the winter months, we have a different type of a fire threat,” Sadecki said.

He warned that bringing live Christmas trees indoors, and lighting fires in fireplaces, bring potential fire danger.

A tree should be kept away from fireplaces and heaters, should be kept in water and should be decorated only with lights in good condition.

Fireplaces should have screens in front of them, and chimney interiors should be kept clean, Sadecki said.