COVID-19 prompts new fire strategies

The pandemic has also come during a dry year in which the region saw only about 45% of historic rainfall totals, with increasingly warm weather on the way.

“Rain this season is not what we hoped,” Marshall said. “We face a perilous fire season and especially in light of coronavirus with the threat it poses to firefighters.”

Marshall said COVID-19 has prompted a new statewide strategy aimed at extinguishing wildfires as soon as possible.

“In the past, we’d let some fires burn and let them burn out some of the undergrowth if it wasn’t threatening structures and try and clear out some of that to help reduce the long-term fire danger,” Marshall said. “This year, that’s not going to be the case. There’s going to be a really aggressive effort to put out fires early on.”

But that approach only works in the absence of strong winds like the ones that occurred in Redding, Paradise and Santa Rosa, Marshall said.

“Those fires grew very quickly and at a rapid pace and there’s nothing we’re going to be able to do to stop that,” he said. “We’re hoping the weather will cooperate, but as we’ve seen in years past that’s not always the case.”

When large-scale wildfires break out in other parts of the state, local firefighters and equipment are sent to help as part of a mutual aid agreement among agencies. Because of the pandemic, not as many crews may be available to respond this year, Marshall said.

“And fire camps may be bigger, we may have to travel farther. … We’d normally send five engines and a chief officer vehicle and now we might see more engines going, but with fewer numbers of people on it just to quell the ability for the virus to spread in case someone has it,” Marshall said.

He also noted those responding to firefighters typically rely on restaurants and hotels while they’re in town and with social distancing rules in effect “that may be affected by COVID-19.”

Marshall also spoke of a “very large concern” about a second wave of infections and the potential impacts.

“As we start to reach the fall that could become more and more prevalent and fire season in California tends to get worse once we reach the fall,” he said. “We definitely have some concerns there.”

The budget impact of the virus locally is also a significant concern and the extent of the impact remains unknown, Marshall said.

“We may have reductions of available resources, either through budgeting or a second wave of illness,” he said. “We may have to reduce staffing if there’s a second wave of illness, if we get a station where a bunch of people get infected or exposed. That also will play into what mutual aid resources are available to us.”

While the season has been a dry one, Marshall said late rains did hamper fire mitigation efforts.

“Anyone who’s tried to cut wet grass knows that doesn’t work well,” he said. “Because of the late rains that hampered our ability and people’s ability to get stuff done.”

During the meeting, Marshall recommended a series of wildfire preparedness measures, many of which will soon be required by a countywide ordinance currently being drafted and is expected to be complete by August or September.

Creating defensible space around homes — the practice of making sure the vegetation closest to the home is the least flammable — keeping trees away from chimneys, removing debris from roofs and gutters and installing fire retardant roof materials such as asphalt shingle when replacing a roof are among the recommendations that may soon become requirements. Marshall suggested the various requirements will largely come at a modest cost to homeowners.  

Software called Zonehaven aimed at streamlining evacuations throughout the county during wildfires and other emergencies has also recently debuted.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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