Amador County – The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Amador-El Dorado Unit announced that fire season officially began Monday, and “preparing now is your best defense.”

Camino-based Unit Chief Kelly Keenan of the Amador-El Dorado Unit reminded everyone last week that “we are moving into a period of increased risk for wildfires as we progress into fire season,” which will officially began June 13th in the Amador-El Dorado Unit.

Keenan said “we have had an unusually wet and extended spring, however temperatures are quickly increasing and humidity’s are dropping causing lighter vegetation, such as grass, to burn more easily. It will be summer before we know it.”

He said “with the extended rainy season there has been an extended growing season for our local plants which equals more fuel for wildfires. Although CDF is prepared year-round for emergencies, the department is preparing for the increased threat and workload driven by wildfires during the summer months.” The department is “actively hiring and training additional firefighters in order to staff additional fire equipment to meet the increasing fire threat. Likewise, additional firefighting aircraft will be phased in as the firefighting workload increases statewide.”

Keenan encouraged people to continue to work on their “defensible space” which should be a minimum of 100 feet around each structure on their property or to the property line, whichever is closer.

Don’t forget to remove pine needles and leaves from the roof and rain gutters, an often overlooked area. For more information on what you can do to prepare for fire season, please visit CDF’s web site or call (530) 644-2345, for a free brochure.

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