Dry Years Are Coming Back to Haunt the Southland : Early Start Declared for Fire Season

State fire officials, alarmed by unusually arid weather conditions that are rapidly turning forest and brushland into kindling, have declared that Southern California’s fire season will officially begin Monday, the earliest date in memory.

In Orange County, fire officials will follow suit that day, closing more than 274 square miles of backcountry and wilderness because of high fire danger.

It is second earliest start to the fire season in the county since the turn of the century, said Orange County Fire Department spokeswoman Patti Range. A fire season hasn’t been declared this early in the county since 1963.

“The potential is there for an early and lengthy fire season,” Range said. “It could be a long summer.”

Mike Harris at the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s southern regional office agreed: “This fire season is more than a month earlier than normal. If the weather pattern holds throughout the summer like it has early this year, it could be a real devastating fire season.”

To combat the threat, officials overseeing the 10-county region stretching from Santa Barbara south to San Diego will begin hiring seasonal firefighters Monday to help staff wilderness fire stations around the clock, Harris said.

Orange County fire officials already have launched an offensive to promote fire safety. Notices about clearing brush around homes have been mailed to thousands of canyon and foothill residents from Trabuco Canyon to San Juan Capistrano and in rural pockets of Laguna Hills, said Kevin Turner, wild-land manager for county fire. Brush and other vegetation must be cleared at least 100 feet from any structure.

The county is also inspecting those properties earlier than normal, trying to improve the compliance rate and reduce the fire threat, he said.

Turner said more than 158,000 acres will be posted off-limits to hikers because of the “highly flammable” state of wild-land vegetation.

Two years of below average rainfall in Orange County has created an “explosive situation” in some areas, Turner said.

This year most of the 8.28 inches of rain recorded at the Santa Ana Civic Center fell between November and mid-January, promoting early, lush growth that is now dry as firewood. Less than an inch has fallen since Jan. 17, and February proved to be the second driest in history. Meteorologists say the prospects of any more significant rainfall are fading rapidly.

The warm, dry air, combined with swift Santa Ana winds, is largely responsible for an early withering of vegetation. Turner said the moisture index for vegetation in many county areas is 76, while normal for spring is 150; 60 is considered critical fire danger. Last summer the moisture level hit 40 in some places, the lowest ever recorded, he said.

“But we were lucky because the moist, marine air was with us most of the summer,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse if Mother Nature had not cooperated. Once again, it is the unknown. If it stays cool, we could get a break.”

There were 257 brush fires in the county last year, but the worst did not come until September, when 7,100 acres were blackened above Silverado Canyon in the Cleveland National Forest.

Because the brush is so dry, Turner said, it is almost too dangerous at this point to conduct controlled burns, one way to reduce the thick chaparral that fuels wildland fires.

Exacerbating the situation is a mysterious blight that has been attacking brush on Southern California mountainsides for the last three years, mainly in Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside counties. The condition, caused in part by a fungus, has killed up to half of the brush in hilly areas, such as Malibu and Newhall, said John Haggemiller, a senior deputy forester with Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Ironically, as Southland residents prepare for what weather forecasters predict will be a pleasant holiday weekend, fire officials prepare for the worst. Dry, mild air with above-normal temperatures in the high 70s are expected in Los Angeles today and Sunday, said Dan Bowman of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

Times staff writer Paul Feldman contributed to this story from Los Angeles.