Nearly a foot of rain fell in Santa Rosa during the month of October, topped off by the Bay Area’s most recent rainstorm.
Now, residents can breathe a sigh of relief, as Santa Rosa Fire Department officials have declared this year’s fire season officially over in the city.
This year’s fire season started earlier than usual, all the way back on May 17. With last month’s rainfall, it’s also ending earlier than fire officials originally feared.
"That preparedness is still there, the firefighters are still here, the equipment is still here," said Paul Lowenthal, an assistant fire marshal with the Santa Rosa Fire Department.
While it was still a busy fire season for the department, the region narrowly avoided major destructive wildfires.
"Our community was hungry to be better prepared for what seemed to be the new normal around here," said Lowenthal. "A lot of those efforts, in our opinion, truly have paid off."
However, some efforts were not always the best thought out. Numerous sparks were ignited in the city during the season by lawnmowers, as people tried to clear away extra brush, according to Lowenthal.
The end of the fire season in Santa Rosa doesn’t mean the end of preparedness. The department’s staffing and preparedness will remain the same for mutual aid.
"Southern California is still chasing day-to-day fires and so we’re keeping those seasonal firefighters on," said CAL FIRE Chief Ben Nichols.
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