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Cal Fire: Peak Fire season over in SLO County

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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. - Peak fire season has come to an end in San Luis Obispo County.

This is based on recent fire conditions, as they've gone from a high potential, to low. That means less crews and less resources.

“We'll have a reduction of three fire engines in the county –from 12, to nine," said Cal Fire Unit Chief, Scott Jalbert.

The department is also closing two stations in northern San Luis Obispo County.

Cal Fire does this every year, but the agency says ending peak season in December is the first time it has done this in a while.

“In the last four years or so, we've seen this holding on to peak all the way through January,” said Jalbert.

Even though fire potential is not considered high at this time, officials say SLO County is not out of the woods, yet.

“We've been dealing with the drought, and with that we now have an abundance of dead fuel throughout the county, and that's still a major concern of ours," the unit chief said.

Cal Fire says it will shift its focus to fire prevention and fuel reduction

“We have a large burn going on in the Webster area off of [Highway] 227,” Jalbert said.

Cal Fire says the 2019 fire season was very active with firefighting resources deployed to more than 235 wildfires within its jurisdiction.

However, Jalbert says they had help from Mother Nature.

“This year, because of the heavy rains that we saw last rainy season, the fuel moisture was a lot higher so the fire did not burn as we've seen in the previous years," he said.

Residents are still being urged to take precautions outdoors to prevent sparking a wildfire.

Although some substations are closing, Cal Fire will maintain staffing to meet any potential threat.

Article Topic Follows: Fire

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Travis Schlepp

Travis Schlepp is the Digital Content Director for News Channel 3-12. To learn more about Travis, click here.

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