CA Fire Danger Elevates Amid Hot, Gusty Weather; 4 Blazes Burn

CALIFORNIA — Fire agencies were on high alert Sunday in anticipation of potential wildfires amid elevated temperatures and dry winds. Following some of the driest winter months on record and worsening drought, the state could be headed for a volatile fire season.

Fire weather was expected in both the Southland and in Northern California on Sunday and through the week, the National Weather Service said.

In Southern California, fire weather conditions were expected to persist into Wednesday over the interior valleys, mountains and deserts of southwest California, where high heat was expected to be coupled with gusty winds, weather officials in Los Angeles tweeted.

"Get ready for inland heat and renewed fire weather concerns by early next week," weather service officials in the Bay Area tweeted.

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Temperatures in the Bay Area were expected to increase this week, with Tuesday being the hottest day. Onshore winds were expected to keep the coast cooler, but inland areas were subject to climb into the 80s and 90s.

Four fires burned in the Golden State on Sunday, but none of them had swelled up anywhere near the devastating acerage burned during this time in 2020 — the largest fire season on record.

The most recent fire ignited on Saturday afternoon in Solano County. By Sunday, the Quail Fire had burned 135 acres, triggering evacuations in the area of Quail Canyon Road and Pleasents Valley Road, southwest of Winters. It was 45 percent contained.

The biggest fire was burning in Kern County and had charred 682 acres. The Edmonston Fire sparked on Thursday and was 65 percent contained by Sunday.

A small 46-acre fire was smoldering in Banning on Sunday, but it was 80 percent contained. One other small fire was burning in the Plumas National Forest.

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Earlier this month, fire season officially kicked into high gear when a wildfire in Orange County tore through some 20 homes and hundreds of acres, sending residents fleeing for their lives. But experts said that fire season is more likely a year-round event nowadays.

"Summer in California no longer means the beginning of fire season. Rather, it means we are about to enter the roughest six or so months of a fire season that never ends," said Bill Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West and head of its The West on Fire research project, according to USC News.

January's extended dry spell was expected to continue into the spring with little precipitation, leaving most of the state in moderate to extreme drought conditions before summer. Dry conditions with above-normal temperatures through spring will leave fuel moisture levels lower than normal, increasing the potential for wildland fires, according to CalFire.

"Drought and the increasing effects of climate change come together in creating the likelihood — even the certainty — of bigger, hotter, and more catastrophic fires year to year," Deverell said.

A significant lack of rain in recent months will likely set the stage for a dangerous fire season, meteorologists at AccuWeather predicted earlier this month.

"Unfortunately, in a nutshell, it looks like it's going to be another busy season," he said. "We're seeing a lot of drought. Almost half of the country is experiencing drought and the bulk of that is to the west," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel said, adding that AccuWeather forecasters "are expecting an above-average fire season."

Samuhel said he expects the 2022 season to burn 9.5 million acres of land across the western U.S. — 130 percent of the five-year average and 140 percent of the 10-year average.