Louis N. Molino, Sr. CET
My parents live in NJ , now I know NJ has sand for dirt but they had 92 inches of snow this yr, last moth they had so much rain that everything was flooding. Then they had 3 weeks of no rain and 4 days of red flag warnings. Over the weeken they had 3 major fires scorched about 2000 acres of land. The fuel type in jersey is very close to S, Cal, so don't all the rain that you have had put your guard down.
To: californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com
From: HappyMoosePhoto@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 02:27:09 -0700
Subject: RE: [californiadisasters] Fire Season...A Note From The List-Owner
Bah. If it rains a lot we get tall grass that burns hot and fast. If there is no rain, get dry grass sooner, which burns fast and hot. Grass is grass, some fast footwork, a little noise and excitement..
.
Kim is correct. It isn't the grass that one has to worry about (that's 1 hour fuel)... if you want to be concerned (or not, depending on the season), take a look at the ten, hundred and 1k hour fuels moistures, the live to dead ratio, fuel loading in a given area, slope, aspect, weather trends (well you get the idea).
But you're correct too. El Nino provided the first respite of flashy fuel fires in a few years (I didn't count them). The North state has done VERY well with rain this year (Folsom is about to spill, ditto Shasta and I haven't checked Oroville) but the fun and games will start next month. In fact we had between an inch and two inches of rain (some snow too) just yesterday (I'm sick of the rain, have been for months now). By now the seasonal firefighter hiring has been done and the training classes will be in a few weeks… And this list will start to get VERY busy.
Y'all HAVE done your 4291 clearing and maintenance already, right? Emergency evacuation plan updated? Escape routes? NOW is the best time to take care of it before it gets hot and too dry. (Check the spark arrestors on your power tools too.) For the record, no I haven't done mine yet. It's been too wet to do the weed eating (the HOA takes care of the trees). Later this week I'll take care of it, since the sun is supposed to be around a while. That's been another joy too, lotsa grasses and pollen with an extended mold season for the allergies. At least the grasses up here in the hills have mostly 'headed out' (ripened and stopped growing).
Ahh Spring, Ahh Sun, Ahh Choo.
Rick
Wildlife and scenic images
PS Reminder: The Fire Weather book is in the files section. It explains weather in clear and easy to understand language and is an excellent resource. Some of the terms are dated but the general gist of it is still accurate. No we won't be uploading the fire behavior books as they are copyrighted and the entire set is thousands of pages long.
From: Richard Bixler
I don't even want to think about how bad the fire season this yr. can possibly get. But, that is what we get for living in the southwestern US and in SoCal and this fire season may be a busy one for everyone involved.Scott Bixler
From: Fizzboy7@aol.
com It's been a nice little break for a few months. With all the rain this season, it's a sure deal this group will remain busy coming up.
Jason
kimnoyes@gmail.
com writes: All these crazy winds that have given SoCal and CenCal a collective Bad Hair Day the past few to several days are having the effect of drying out all that lush flashy fuel that sprang up during our just-ended El Nino rainy season.
Already the grasses are rapidly curing and turning brown.
Small fires have already popped up in various parts of SoCal from Santa Barbara County to Riverside County.
Soon, we will be fully into our annual fire season and as with every year it has the potential to be a doozy although for different reasons this year than during the past several drought years.
The heavy fuels will take longer to get to critical levels this year but the flashy fuels are nearly ready to go now and they are rich and luxuriant, even out in the desert areas that normally are fairly defoliated by more typical precipitation levels.
Please use caution while mowing your grass and trimming your brush as this time of year every year there are incidents of folks doing fire hazard mitigation activities whom start fires by accident.
Also use due caution in all your other activities that might conceivably start a fire and be on the lookout for foolish or even suspicious activity in fire prone areas.
Kim Patrick Noyes
El Paso De Robles
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