The Bay Area got a healthy dose of showers this week with some areas seeing around an inch of rain, but what does that moisture mean for the state’s long, tiring fire season?
Is it over?
Unfortunately, fire officials think it’s a little too early to declare the end.
The rains are a welcome sight for firefighters who spent months battling multiple large blazes. "It’s great," said CAL FIRE Battalion Chief Isaac Sanchez. "It’s obviously something that we need to see. It’s going to have an impact on the types of fires we see going forward."
Sanchez, however, added the rain "does not necessarily erase the threat."
A series of sustained storms and rainfall would truly bring about the end of fire season, which is less tied to a specific amount of rain and more to the moisture added to dry fuels.
Sanchez told KCBS Radio that an official fire season is harder than ever to pin down, with large wildfire events happening earlier and stretching later in the season than ever before.
"In the past, when I first started, it was June when we started to see our small fires," he said. "They’re starting to happen in May and April now."
For CAL FIRE, fire prevention measures are now year-round.