A Hat Tip to the Firefighters

This week the fire season got off to a strong start here in Southern California with several wind-whipped wildfires going at once around the Southland. Amazingly, there was almost no loss of homes in any of the fires, and a tip of the hat must go to the fire departments involved. They did a masterful job of structure protection and there were frequent images of firefighters making stands against oncoming flames.

A few years ago fires like this would have been devastating. Shake shingle roofs used to be common and there wasn't the emphasis there is today on brush clearing. Thanks to non-flammable roofing materials and good brush clearance, the fire department had the ability to use their resources to knock back the flames before they could do much property damage.

We're now in our Santa Ana wind season, and for those of you who don't live around here, we can get hot, dry winds of 50-70 mph sometimes for a couple days at a time. I remember a few years ago watching out my upstairs window as a 70 mph gust hit our area and caused the top half of a eucalyptus tree to separate from the trunk and fly 50 yards before crashing in the street. It can get pretty hairy when the winds start blowing.

After having received 34 inches of rain this past winter, there's plenty of tall, dry brush just waiting to go up. Let's hope the firefighters are able to keep their great early season record intact.