Calif. Gov., SJSU Lab Fired Up To Fight Blazes Before They Occur

SAN JOSE, CA -- As Gov. Gavin Newsom took the proactive stance of proclaiming a state of emergency throughout California Friday ahead of the coming fire season, a San Jose State University fire-weather researcher is fired up to know more about the science behind the state's devastating blazes.

With the heart of a storm chaser and the head of an academic scholar, Craig Clements laments the state isn't doing enough to understand how fires form and what's the big picture. The director's Fire Weather Research Lab at San Jose State is shedding much needed light on one of the most pressing issues facing the state.

As a meteorologist and lab rat, Clements contentions are fueled by knowledge and experience.

"Everybody talks about climate change, but nobody is making the argument of the effects of fuel loading," Clements told Patch Friday.

Fuel - as in brush, ladder fuels and trees that burn - is part of the "fire behavior triangle" Clements insists. The other two points are topography and weather. Knowing the magnitude of how and what happens when the three aspects of this trio collide may make a difference for years to come as climatologists warn to expect for extremes with climate change.

"The issue is we have more drying fuel," Clements said.

The no-win for firefighters is either the "fuel" is timber bone-dry from a lackluster winter into spring, or there's a lot of it because more grows with a robust winter-spring. Either way, if that spigot in the clouds dries up by late spring, the fire year's prominent months could spell catastrophe.

At first glance, the equation is simple for a number-crunching researcher.

"If you can't see through the forest, that's bad," he said in the simplest of terms. "We need to thin these fuels. It's a big problem."

Dry brush with more ladder fuels to burn coupled with 147 million dead trees in California represents the perfect storm of fire events.

Cal Fire has identified and implemented work plans on 35 projects in high risk areas in California. One of them is near Woodside -- a clear example of homeowners living in the urban interface where the fire hazard zone meets civilization.

The topography in the coastal mountains linking the South Bay with the Pacific Ocean is prime for a raging inferno, and Cal Fire knows that.

Every month, Clements' crew goes out to Blackberry Hill in Los Gatos to conduct sampling of the fuels that could erupt in blazes so big they create their own weather. That's the latest science added to the vernacular. Case in point, Redding's Carr fire last summer created a "firenado," a funnel cloud fueled by fire instead of rain to a tornado.

The science of fire becomes more intricate when stakeholders consider the wind's effects.

Diablo winds experienced in the fall in the San Francisco Bay Area brought on the deadly Wine Country fires of 2017 - Tubbs, Redwood Valley, and Atlas, with the former burning more than 36,000 acres alone.

Aside from last year's record-setting Camp Fire in Butte County, the trio as well as the Tunnel Fire of 1991 in the Oakland Hills rank in the top 20 of California’s deadliest wildfires per Cal Fire. All four of those fires with the addition of the Nuns Fire in the wine-growing region are also ranked in the top 20 most destructive fires. They were driven by the extreme Diablo winds.

The winds are offshore events that flow northeasterly over Northern California’s Coast Ranges, often creating extreme fire danger for the Bay Area. Diablo winds are driven by a surface pressure gradient that forms in response to an inverted pressure trough that develops over California in fall.

The lesser known impact of wind in these devastating fires is measured by their "tilted plume structure," which contributes to the far-reaching embers that start other blazes off the original wildfire. The strong winds lean in a downwind direction, opposed to an upright position. The tilt drives the fire "far in advance of the flaming front," thus helping it leap across the landscape with individual fires merging from all directions.

More on that can be read here http://www.fireweather.org.

Devastating fires command drastic measures

With the emergency proclamation directive issued in advance, the governor is directing his administration to immediately expedite forest management projects that will protect 200 of California’s most wildfire-vulnerable communities, the California Office of Emergency Services reported.

This action follows the release of a report earlier this month by Cal Fire that labeled 35 regions as high-priority fuel reduction projects. Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean told Patch Thursday the agency plans to train National Guard Troops in the thinning process. In years past, guard members were assigned to the fight once the blazes broke out.

This is a new day and age where all hands are brought to the deck.

“The increasing wildfire risks we face as a state mean we simply can’t wait until a fire starts in order to start deploying emergency resources,” Newsom said. “California needs sustained focus and immediate action in order to better protect our communities.”

The state of emergency provides time-saving waivers of administrative and regulatory requirements to protect public safety and allow for action to be taken in the coming year.

The 35 priority projects were identified by geographic areas with populations that are particularly at risk during natural disasters. Paired with traditional natural risk factors, this data paints a more accurate assessment of the real human risk and can help guide preventive action to help alleviate the loss of life — especially for vulnerable groups. The Camp Fire leveled the town of Paradise, which consisted of a high concentration of seniors. It's believed most of the 86 people who lost their lives were trying to flee but couldn't escape fast enough.

“California has experienced an increase in catastrophic wildfires over the past ten years,” Cal Fire Director Thom Porter.

Cal Fire is inviting vendors, academics, entrepreneurs and scientists from a range of industries to propose innovative technological solutions to yield more comprehensive and effective results to address the state’s wildfire problems.

Further, Newsom announced additional details on the $50 million "California for All Emergency Preparedness Campaign." The collaborative campaign will augment the efforts of first responders by ensuring at least one million of the most vulnerable Californians are connected to a support system.

The campaign will provide:

• $24.25 million in grants to community-based organizations across the state to prepare residents for natural disasters through education and resources designed to bolster resiliency.
• $12.6 million to support community efforts to build resiliency and respond to disasters by dispatching expert disaster teams to key regions and expanding citizen emergency response teams.
• $13.15 million to assist community groups in the development of a public awareness and outreach campaign directed specifically at the most vulnerable California communities.

Funding for this campaign through Assembly Bill 72 was approved by the Legislature, and the bill was signed by the governor last month.

Plus, the California Natural Resources Agency and Department of Conservation has announced the award of $20 million in block grants for regional projects that improve forest health and increase fire resiliency. This regional forest management program helps communities prioritize, develop and implement projects that strengthen fire resiliency.

Lastly, the state has released a set of Emergency Alert and Warning Guidelines. The guidelines, which were mandated as a result of Senate Bill 833, aim to help cities, counties and the state get on the same page when it comes to communicating with Californians in an emergency.

See also

• NOAA: US Flooding Risk Continues, Gives Way To Calif Wildfire Danger