NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – With California entering what is traditionally one of its worst fire months, state fire officials said a burn permit suspension remains in effect for Lake and neighboring counties, with residents urged to be cautious as the fire season continues.
The 2012 fire season has so far been particularly active. Cal Fire reported that the season to date has shown a 20-percent increase in fire activity compared to the five-year average, with 150 new fires burning nearly 3,000 acres during the past week alone.
Dry weather conditions are continuing to cause high fire danger, with the fire season far from over, according to fire officials.
“October is often the time when the state experiences the largest, most devastating wildfires,” Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said in the agency’s weekly “Fire Situation Report” on Monday.
As if to illustrate the point, on Monday afternoon, the Flynn Fire near Comptche in Mendocino County was sparked, burning 200 acres and five structures by nightfall, as Lake County News has reported. As of Monday night the fire was only 5 percent contained.
Due to the continuing fire concerns, the Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit reported that residents in its coverage area – including Lake, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Colusa and Yolo counties – must continue to abide by the burn permit suspension the agency issued on Aug. 15 due to concerns for increased fire activity.
At the same time, a burn ban remains in effect in Lake County.
Although the fire season’s activity has been reduced, Cal Fire said the wildland fuels are still at record levels of dryness, with the Energy Release Component, or ERC – which is a measure of the intensity with which a wildland fire will burn – at a critical level.
As the ERC is a good measure of seasonal drought, it will not become less critical until the first significant rain, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire said its permit suspension affects all burning on lands within the State Responsibility Area as well as those lands protected by Cal Fire by contract.
The suspension includes all burning requiring permits, including dooryard, agricultural, forest management, hazard abatement, fire training and industrial burning. Cal Fire said campfires within organized campgrounds or on private property are allowed in designated sites which prevent the fire from spreading.
In addition to keeping the burn ban suspension in place, Cal Fire asks area residents to use caution when using power equipment such as mowers, weed eaters, tractors, chainsaws or ATVs in the wildland.
Suspicious activity can be reported to the Cal Fire Arson Hotline at 1-800-468-4408.
For more fire safety tips visit www.readyForWildfire.org or the Cal Fire Web site at www.fire.ca.gov .
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