Summer Showers Don’t Dent Drought Devastation
Even though part of the state saw rain this weekend, nearly 60 percent of California is still in an exceptional drought, which is the most severe category.
Windshield wipers and umbrellas came out on Sunday as showers sprinkled some rain up and down the coast. But it didn’t make a dent in the drought or dry brush in the hills.
“So some of the light flashy fuels, they might see a little bit of a green-up, but the medium and heavy fuels, those are going to remain dry. They’re at 64 percent, 60 is considered critical,” said Capt. David Sadecki of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
California isn’t faring well this fire season although our area has escaped the devastating blazes so far.
Currently, around 30 local firefighters are in the northern part of the state fighting those fires.
“It’s something that we do. When we have a fire here, we expect help so we send help when we can,” said Sadecki.
Now that the rain clouds are gone, the warm weather is just getting started and that means the state is not out of the clear.
“We have about four more months of this type of scenario until we get the 2 inches of rain and that’s what really kind of changes us from the high fire season to the low fire season,” said Sadecki.
