Living in California Wildfire Country

The Reality of Fall Fire Season in Southern California

With all the national news coverage of the Southern California wildfires, people all over the nation wonder what we here in California must be thinking and experiencing. Having experienced many a fire season, I would like to share first hand what it is like to deal with fire season.

My fourth wedding anniversary is coming up on November 1st. I always enjoy and anticipate my wedding anniversary, but the reminder of the possibility of fire season always looms overhead. So far this week there have been I believe about 15 separate fire incidents. In October of 2003, the numbers were similar.

First of all, let me explain how this happens. Southern California inevitably has a dry spring and summer every so often. The dry brush builds up and the stage is set for a regional inferno. Although scattered bits of cold weather and showers may occur throughout a Southern California fall, temperatures do not typically decline to a comfortable fall level until sometime in November. Meanwhile, the combination of Santa Ana winds (very strong and warm winds) and a heat wave create the beginning of fire season. The Santa Ana winds are very strong. They break trees and send street signs flying through the air. They also occasionally down power lines. Downed power lines, which are suspect for starting the current Malibu fire, create sparks. Combine electrical sparks with dry brush and you have a brush fire. To make matters worse, the strong Santa Ana winds carry the embers all over the area, so the fires grow rapidly.

Exacerbating the issue, you have arsonists. There are some sick people who derive some crazy sort of pleasure from watching chaos that they have created. When the brush fires start in one area, it is not uncommon for an arsonist to start one in another, just to watch the scramble. I suppose it is a case of people committing a copy cat crime on nature. There are other accidental reasons that these fires starts, but I believe I have covered the major causes.

Now, what is it like to live in the densely populated Los Angeles area in the midst of this?

Annoying.

Inconvenient.