SAFETY TIPS

How to create defensible space to protect your home from fire. PAGE A8

Last week, Cal Fire officials announced that they are already reopening and building staffs at stations all over the Bay Area, well ahead of the typical start of fire season in June. Last year, officials opened the fire season in the first week of May.

“I think we’re all very concerned for this fire season, due to drought conditions,” said Pam Temmermand, fire prevention specialist for Cal Fire. “It Fire officials say defensible space can be created by getting rid of materials that can spread fire easily. Here are some tips: n Remove dead grass, plants and weeds. n Remove dry pine needles and leaves from yard, roof and rain gutters. n Trim trees to keep branches at least 10 feet from other trees. n Remove branches that hang over roof and keep dead branches at least 10 feet away from chimney. n Relocate wood piles at least 30 feet from home. n Remove or prune flammable plants and shrubs near windows. n Remove items that could catch fire from under or around decks. n Create space among trees, shrubs and items that are flammable, such as patio furniture, swing sets, wood piles, etc. Source: www. readyforwildfire. org impacts everybody. We’ve got to be constantly on our toes.”

Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said his crews responded to 783 wildfires from Jan. 1 to Thursday , a significant increase over the same period in a normal year.

“This drought has absolutely led to an increase of fire activities, not only last year, but already this year,” Berlant said.

The Round Fire burned 7,000 acres at the southern edge of the Sierra Nevada in February, early for a state in which vegetation is normally coated in moisture throughout the spring months, he said.

Cal Fire responded to 776 wildfires during 2014 that burned 12,673 acres in the nine greater Bay Area counties, Berlant said. A majority of the fires and burned acres were in the North Bay.

But the situation is similar all over the state. Despite heavy rains falling in the San Bernardino Mountains, officials in Southern California said it has been one of the driest and hottest winters on record. In the Bay Area, fire safety groups are hoping to protect some of the highestrisk areas by reaching out to help residents clear brush and create a barrier of open space — called defensible space — between structures on their land and brush and trees that could catch fire.

“We know what we’re looking at, and we know we’re coming up on a dangerous season,” said Gary Sanchez, director of the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council. “The moisture levels are lower than ever in live and dead fuels out there, and that speaks to extreme fire behavior.”

Robert Criswell, who runs the Black Road Christmas Tree Farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains, said he does what he can to keep his crop of highly flammable Douglas firs safe. This year, he said, the drought prevented him from using reserve water to keep grass and pines from becoming parched.

“The danger is horrendous,” he said. “But there’s not much you can do. It’ll take lots of luck.”

Prevention

He continues to turn the soil to draw moisture up from deep within the ground, which keeps the ground more moist than if he sprayed all his weeds and grass. He also creates fire breaks by removing residual weeds, dead trees and brush from the paths, roads and steep hills along his property.

“People need to be doing everything they can do all throughout the year, because the fire season is not stopping in October anymore,” said Ciara Wood, who lives near the East Bay ridgeline in Kensington and serves as director of the Diablo Firesafe Council.

Wood vividly remembers watching the Oakland hills fires in October 1991. The memories, she said, motivate her to keep her community safe from destructive wildfires.

“For days we saw orange on our television screens,” Wood said. “I don’t want those orange screens to show the East Bay hills one day.”