Thursday, June 22, 2017

Fire Danger Potential for the Weekend of June 24th

With the increase in temperatures that are expected to impact the state starting Friday and through the weekend, we hope to make the public, and our cooperators, aware of the impact that the heat will have on our wildland fire environment.
The fuel moistures will lower into the 90th percentile range once again which means that our fuels will be more susceptible for fire ignitions. In addition, we are expected to see an increase in off-shore winds in conjunction with the high temperatures. When we see an increase in off-shore winds (or East Winds as firefighters call them) fire potential increases significantly because it brings in a much drier air-mass from the Cascades, along with more erratic and gusty winds. Typical winds come from the Northwest and provide a moister air-mass that typically comes from the Pacific Ocean and provide more moderate wind speeds. We will also see a decrease in Relative Humidity which also aligns with an increase in Fire Potential and Fire Behavior due to the East Wind occurrence through Sunday.

Our first, and most important, priority is to ensure the protection of the public and our firefighters during critical fire weather events. The best way to ensure that we can provide for the safety of everyone is to prevent a fire from ever occurring. Please be careful and take extra precaution this weekend.


We hope you all enjoy your weekend and stay safe!!