Dangerous heat wave this week to bring elevated wildfire risk to the Central Coast
Dave Alley
PASO ROBLES, Calif. – Just as firefighters have nearly put the Gifford Fire completely out, a dangerous heat wave is forecasted to hit the Central Coast this week and create an elevated risk of wildfire to the area.
According to News Channel 3-12 meteorologist Mackenzie Lake, an Extreme Heat Warning begins today for most inland areas.
In addition, the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Red Flag Warning begins beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday in parts of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo counties.
“Red Flag Warning means that we’re going to have low relative humidity, high temperatures and also accompanying winds,” said Ryan Grebe, San Luis Obispo County Fire Department public information officer. “That combination allows for rapid fire growth. If we do get a start, it’s going to be harder for firefighters to, you know, go out and put out that fire.”
The elevated fire risk arrives as firefighters draw close to fully extinguishing the Gifford Fire, which has burned more than 131,000 acres and now stands at 95% contained as of Wednesday
“It’s not ideal,” said Gifford Fire information officer Rich Eagan. “Guys have been here for two-and-a-half, three weeks now and they’re tired. It’s tedious work, but we’re here to complete the mission.”
Eagan added more than 2,000 firefighters remain assigned to cover the fire with most of them now stationed the re-established Incident Command Post (ICP) at the Santa Maria Elks Event Center.
Earlier this week the ICP was moved from Santa Margarita Ranch back to the Elks Event Center, which served as the host site for a few days following the start of the Gifford Fire on Aug. 1.
With this week’s weather conditions creating extreme fire hazards, fire crews are hoping the public will heed their advice and be mindful of what they can do to lower risks.
“We really want people to be aware of this Red Flag Warning and make sure that we don’t have any starts,” said Grebe. “Obviously accidental ignitions can happen, but, we’ve we’ve been fighting fire for a long time locally, and a lot of our, partner agencies have been out there with us, so we just want people to keep that in mind. We’ve seen a lot of local fire started by mowing, tow chains, things like that. There’s always that human element that’s involved in the ignition of these fires, so we want people to be aware of what they’re doing. Don’t mow after 10 a.m., and I probably wouldn’t mow it all during these next couple of days.”
Since a large number of firefighters remain on the Central Coast from around the state through the mutual aid system, there is a silver lining should a fire break out locally.
“We are prepared and willing to go if we get diverted,” said Eagan. “We can get redeployed at any time to a different incident. If a fire starts, they’ll definitely send people there.”
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