Outdoor burn permits to be suspended

Fire authorities: Experts warn a severe season is in the offing

Riverside County fire authorities are suspending all outdoor burn permits amid worries that the 2022 wildfire season could be even more destructive than in years past due to the ongoing, statewide megadrought.

“As we enter the summer months, we are experiencing critical fire behavior due to warmer temperatures and tinder-dry vegetation,” said Bill Weiser, the chief of the Riverside County Fire Department/

Cal Fire, on Sunday. “We urge residents to comply with this suspension until I determine that it is safe to resume open burning.”

The ban will begin at 8 a.m. today.

The ban means residents will not be able to get a permit to burn landscape debris, like branches and leaves, on their property. The ban does not affect campfires, however, as long as residents get a campfire permit and maintain the fire safely to prevent embers from lighting wildfires. Campfires will also still be allowed at organized campgrounds.

Most of California remains in extreme drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor program at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. That means conditions are so dry that the fire season will persist all year round and that even typically wetter areas of the state could see wildfires.

According to the Drought Monitor website, California hitting extreme drought levels means the state will find water levels to be “inadequate for agriculture, wildlife, and urban

needs.”

Indeed, state and local officials have instituted water restrictions that have been among the strictest ever for Californians. In March, Governor Gavin Newsom called for residents to reduce water consumption by 15%, but the state remains far from that goal.

Local fire authorities, who faced wildfires that have been smaller in size but nonetheless extreme in destructiveness, have increasingly noted that climate change is making the fire season more unpredictable. Exceptionally dry brush partly led to the sudden onrush of flames in Laguna Nigel that destroyed a ridgetop neighborhood this month.

“The fire season in California and across the west is starting earlier and ending later each year,” Calfire said in its announcement of the burn ban. “Warmer spring and summer temperatures, reduced snowpack, and earlier spring snowmelt create longer and more intense dry seasons that increase moisture stress on vegetation and make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire.”