Joseph Serna in the Los Angeles Times: California is bracing for what officials fear could be an unprecedented winter fire season fueled by record dry conditions that show no signs of letting up. January is typically a time when forest fire camps and air bases are closed and seasonal firefighters go home. But not this year. the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has responded to 150 wildfires so far. During the same period last January, there were none, and the historic average is 25.Fire officials pointed to coastal fires in Humboldt and San Mateo counties in the last two weeks as examples of the conditions they’re facing. The Humboldt fire spread across 333 acres in four days, shocking firefighters because the region is usually damp with rain at this time of year.
“In the winter when we see a fire…it typically will burn at a slow rate of spread. And take an engine to put it out,” said Calfire spokesman Daniel Berlandt. “This season, it’s taking a much larger response and even some aircraft because the grass and the brush wants to burn.”
Across California, vegetation that typically rehydrates with rain between December and April continues to get dryer and more dangerous. The fires so far this winter have been relatively moderate compared with some of the state’s largest, but officials worry that the fires will get worse as the fuel gets even dryer.
...Forecasters say there is little relief in sight. The National Weather Service last week released a forecast for the southwestern United States calling for unseasonably dry and hot conditions....
FEMA photo of a 2007 fire in southern California
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