Worst Fire Season in Decades Seen

Prolonged drought, bark beetles and a rare fungus are drying out and killing brush and trees that surround San Diego and other Southern California neighborhoods, creating the potential for one of the worst wildfire seasons in decades, fire officials warned Monday.

“The potential exists for a very severe fire season,” said Steve Gallego, forest fire management officer for the U.S. Forest Service in San Diego. “We had a severe fire season last year, and, of course, we had another year of drought, and that only compounds the problem.”

A map released Monday by the Los Angeles County Fire Department showed that some of the most vulnerable fire zones can be found this summer in chaparral-covered foothill and mountain-canyon slopes beside densely developed residential districts of Los Angeles and its suburbs.

The map was released as the state Department of Forestry officially opened the 1990 fire season throughout the region, which means its firefighting crews have been placed on higher alert, and fire prevention regulations are now in effect.

Although the fire-season announcement came only two to three weeks earlier than usual in the vulnerable foothills, it was a full two months ahead of schedule in the heavily wooded mountain terrain of Southern California’s national forests.

“The last really good rainfall was back in ‘82-’83, so our brush really hasn’t recuperated in seven years,” said Gordon Rowley, a fire management specialist with the U.S. Forest Service in Arcadia. “Unless we get a hurricane or something--and that’s not very likely--we’re going to have a very bad year.”

Rowley said other states in the West also are experiencing drought, “which means they won’t be able to send us the firefighting forces they normally can deploy out here. . . . It doesn’t look good.”

San Diego has received 6.46 inches of rainfall so far this season, almost 3 inches short of the annual average of 9.32 inches.

The season, which runs from July 1 to June 30, is almost over for 1989-90, and Southern California seldom gets much measurable rain in late May and June.

Los Angeles, which has an annual average of 14.93 inches of rainfall, has received only 6.18 inches so far this season, promising to make this the driest season in 30 years.

In 1982-83, 31.25 inches of rain fell on Los Angeles, more than twice the seasonal average. But, since then, the annual rainfall there has averaged only 11.57 inches.

Rowley said the long drought has weakened the vegetation in Southern California, making it more vulnerable to disease and infestation.

With normal rainfall, he said, pines are vigorous enough to fight off bark beetles, which bore into trunks and limbs to lay their eggs. He said healthy trees repel the insects with a flow of pitch that suffocates them and forces them out of the bark.

But, during the current dry spell, the trees haven’t been able to produce enough sap to rid themselves of the beetles. Rowley said the insects have proliferated, killing vast stands of pine that provide tinder-dry fuel for fires. The problem is especially acute in the Cleveland and San Bernardino national forests.

Forest fires last year charred 45,000 acres of the Cleveland National Forest, 8% of the forest’s total acreage and more than any other national forest, said Gallego.

A fungus has preyed upon drought-weakened brush in the canyons of San Diego County and has killed as much as 60% of the chaparral in some portions of the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains near Los Angeles. Fire officials could not determine how much the fungus has damaged brush in San Diego.

The fungus, first observed about eight years ago, attacks broad-leafed plants like mountain lilac, manzanita and sumac, some of the more fire-resistant species of brush. Officials said large patches of this dead and dying brush now mottle the hillsides, ready to burst into flame at the slightest spark.

“We’ve got a fire load out there in the backcountry that could give us a big problem this season,” said Capt. Jim Van Meter of the state Department of Forestry in San Diego County. “Based on the fire seasons past, it just doesn’t take much to put two and two together and find that we have the potential for a disastrous fire season in the county this year.”

Live oaks, which began to die last year, are usually green year-round, but now “they are turning brown and the leaves are turning brown, a sure sign of distress,” Van Meter said.

“Many of those that were in distress last year are now dead,” he said.

To keep track of the moisture content of live brush on a regular basis, cuttings are weighed, then baked and reweighed on a regular basis. The loss of weight between the weighings indicates the moisture content of the brush.

Doug Allen, a fire prevention officer with the state Department of Forestry in Riverside, said residents should clear brush, trash, firewood and other combustibles at least 30 feet from any building.

FIRE STRESS AREAS

Map shows largely undeveloped land where dead brush and a lack of leaf moisture in live brush create high fire hazards. Fire officials say these are areas where blazes can start and expand rapidly, spreading from open land to homes and other structures. What You Can Do

Fire officials have a number of recommendations for residents of areas where the wildfire danger is high:

Clear brush and grass a minimum of 30 feet away from any buildings.

Do not not store firewood, trash or other combustibles within 30 feet of any building.

Do not smoke, barbecue or build a campfire outdoors until the rainy season resumes in the fall.

Do not drive motor vehicles in off-road areas where brush and grass grow. Exhaust sparks and hot mufflers start many wildfires.

Do not use an indoor fireplace that is not equipped with a spark-arresting device.

In case of fire, turn off all tap water unless instructed otherwise. Indiscriminate use of water can lower the pressure to those who need it to fight the blaze.