Rainy Winter Is Fueling Fears of Wildfires in ’99

Fire officials fear that Ventura County could face a potentially catastrophic fire season--not this summer, but next.

Though officials said it is too early to be sure about the coming fire season, some predict that this year’s record-breaking rain will mean enough residual moisture to limit fires to just spotty blazes that burn out quickly.

If century-old wildfire records are any guide, however, the 1999 fire season could be one of the worst in county history.

“Based on my experience, we won’t see any of those big fires that just burn and burn” this summer, said Terry Raley, a 31-year firefighter and wildland fire officer for the Ventura County Fire Department. “But what seems to happen is that during the following year we have terrible fire seasons.”

In what has been described as both a blessing and a curse for county firefighters, a seemingly endless train of El Nino-amplified storms battered the area this year, followed by winter-like storms that are still clinging to the county.

According to fire officials, the more than 43 inches of rain that has fallen on Ventura County since October has resulted in a surge in the growth of brush which, come summer, will dry out and provide fuel for fires.

Most of that growth has been limited to what officials label “light fuels”--grasses and weeds that burn hot and often too fast to start a major conflagration.

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What has fire officials worried is the growth of the “aged fuels,” the larger and older brush like sage, chaparral and mustard that has grown in some areas to more than 30 feet.

Those plants are large enough to retain much of the moisture collected over the year, making them unlikely to burn this year. But next summer, assuming a normal year of rainfall, those plants will dry out, creating an explosive fire risk.

It’s a pattern the county has seen repeatedly: a bad fire season following the year after a wet winter and spring.

“What’s historically been the case is that wet years are usually followed by a year with a terrible fire season,” said county fire spokeswoman Sandi Wells. “It’s a situation that we’re well aware of and that we’re going to keep a very close eye on.”

In late 1983 and early 1984, El Nino pushed storm after storm across the county, dumping as much as 30 inches of rain in some areas.

Fueled by plants that flourished after those rains, a spark set fire to a grassy field near Wheeler Gorge in July 1985, beginning a blaze that spread uncontrollably to fields of head-high brush.

The Wheeler fire burned for more than a week, consuming about 118,000 acres of brush and destroying several homes in the Ojai area.

Several months later, near the end of the fire season, another fire erupted near Santa Paula and consumed more than 45,000 acres of brush.

Another wet winter in 1992 was followed by another bad fire season in 1993. With the vegetation tinder-dry, the Greenmeadow fire charred more than 80,000 acres that year.

Later that year, the Steckel fire burned more than 20,000 acres.

Despite the potential for a season of historic wildfires, there is only so much the Fire Department can do to prepare for them.

Short of defoliating the entire county, firefighters can only practice techniques to battle the blazes and continue their weed-abatement program to protect homes in fire-prone areas.

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Firefighters have been patrolling neighborhoods since April to monitor the progress of weed abatement before the June 1 deadline for having brush cut to permissible levels.

The law requires brush within 100 feet of homes be cleared by property owners.

The county will perform the work for those who do not comply and charge them on their property tax bill.

“One thing that’s good about the rain is that it will give people some more time to get that done before there’s a fire danger,” Wells said. “That’s the best thing we can do to fight fires.”