Rey Fire Crews Depends on Incident Meteorologist’s Forecast

There are more than 1700 fire personnel on scene for the Rey Fire in Santa Barbara County. While many of them are firefighters, not everyone is.

Jim Dudley is the incident meteorologist assigned to the Rey Fire. He uses maps, equipment and technology to determine the forecast focused on the burn zone.

“Our focus is just on this particular area. We’re not looking on a larger area like you would see on TV. We’re just concerned with the task here which is to protect the firefighters,” said Jim Dudley, incident meteorologist.

Dudley works beside a fire behavior analyst to determine the Rey Fire’s strength and fuel power. Each day, the incident meteorologist presents his forecast at the morning and evening briefings.

On Tuesday, dozer crews built lines on East Camino Cielo to box the Rey Fire in. They depend on the meteorologist’s forecast to plan their shifts.

The crews spent the day creating lines to slow down the Rey Fire and to box it in.