Friday, May 16, 2014

[californiadisasters] California Drought, Unseasonable Weather Worsen Fire Season



Cal Fire officials highlighted the state's efforts to prepare for fire season amid months-long drought conditions

By Joseph Young
|  Friday, May 16, 2014  |  Updated 9:13 AM PDT

As fires continued to burn across San Diego, Cal Fire officials report that the timing of California's drought couldn't be worse.

"We're seeing an unfortunate effect of what's happening with this drought," said Thomas Porter, Cal Fire's assistant southern region chief, said at a press conference held Thursday evening.
 
California is under a drought emergency declared earlier this year by Gov. Jerry Brown as the state faces a third-consecutive dry year and low snowpack measurements point to many more dry months ahead.
 
"We've been throughout this last 24 months and even before that we've had some dry years, but this last 12 months has been extremely dry and to the point where we have dead vegetation and fuels that are very volatile," Porter said.
 
A recent U.S. Drought monitor report found the entire state was facing moderate to exceptional drought, a first in the Drought Monitor's 15-year history.
 
 
The latest U.S. Drought monitor report found that extreme drought conditions were present in nearly 77 percent of the state. Meanwhile, almost a quarter of the state was under exceptional drought conditions.
 
Porter said the drought's timing was made worse by the unseasonable weather.
 
"This is a Santa Ana that we normally wouldn't see until September, October or November …we've had this kind of wind event at a lesser extent …every month this year," Porter said.
 
Porter added that the state's fire season hasn't let up in recent months. "We have never gone out of what we would call fire season," he said. "We have closed [the 2013 season] on Dec. 31st, 2013 and we opened 2014 fire season on Jan. 1, 2014."
 
Porter highlighted recent efforts made by Cal Fire and state officials to augment firefighting resources.
 
"We have not left our fire stations," Porter said, "didn't close any of them in Southern California. That's all through augmentation. We cannot fight these fires alone."
 
In April, Gov. Brown issued a second executive order to deal the state's drought, in an effort to help prevent wildfires and assist cities and farmers. The order came a month after he signed $687.4 million worth of legislation to assist drought-affected communities and provide funding to better use local water supplies.
 
 
Brown said the order "cuts red tape to help get water to farmers more quickly, ensure communities have safe drinking water, protect vulnerable species and prepare for an extreme fire season.''


Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/California-Drought-san-diego-fire-may-2014-259473631.html?_osource=Newltr_Station_Hdlines_SanDiego



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