Pandemic presents new challenges in wildfire fight

VANDENBERG VILLAGE, Calif. - Santa Barbara County Fire is preparing for the approaching wildfire season, but the coronavirus pandemic will likely change how firefighters respond to big fires this year.

"It's definitely changing the way we do things," County Fire Marshal Rob Hazard said. "And it definitely adds a level of stress and strain to an already challenging mission."

For large wildfires that are impossible to contain quickly, Hazard says the usual single base camp approach will likely be modified and be spread out over remote camps instead, with several firefighter crews and remote briefings.

“Where crews camp out on the fire line, day after day,” Hazard said. “So that might be one approach we take is to, rather than bring everybody back to a centralized camp, we keep people in place along the fire line so that they’re geographically physical distanced. Very difficult within one crew though.

“As long as nobody gets an infection from the outside, we feel pretty confident we can maintain them in a safe manner," he added.

Hazard says the coronavirus will likely not affect responses to small fires.

Crews are currently clearing dead brush and chaparral near homes in Vandenberg Village as part of a three-year, about 2500 acre fuel reduction project, funded by a CAL FIRE grant.

“It’s important for the structures to have a buffer, to have some defensible space from the brush, and the home to have access and egress for the firefighters,” said Mike Hickey of Santa Barbara County Fire. “But there’s a lot less heat impact that the homes will take and the embers that the homes will take and the embers that come from the fires will be less because it’ll slow down when it gets to these open areas right here.”

Hazard says as the late season rains this year will likely cause some early season fires once the weather warms up and grasses dry out.

He encourages homeowners to begin creating their own defensible spaces as fire season nears.