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Red Flag Warning Issued for San Diego County

Thursday, October 26, 2006

By Heather Hill and KPBS Public Broadcasting

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This week marked the third anniversary of the deadly wildfires that ravaged San Diego. The Cedar and Paradise fires took 14 lives and more than 2,200 homes. Thursday, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the county. The warning is scheduled to last through Saturday. This means a volatile combination of weather conditions is posing extreme fire danger. Full Focus Reporter Heather Hill has more.

Temperatures climbed into the 80s in some parts of the county today. The high heat paired with low humidity and gusty Santa Ana winds bring explosive potential for fires. Chief David Nissen of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says an abundance of dry brush is perfect fuel for a hungry wildfire.

Nissen: The relative humidities -- what they'll do is they will quite literally suck the moisture out of these fuels. You'll see around us that there is a lot of vegetation dead and dying. It's a high percentage of dead fuel load per acre, so that the dead fuels outnumber the live probably almost 2-to-1.

Nissen says San Diegans should take care to protect themselves and their homes from fire danger -- one of the many lessons learned from the Cedar fire.

Nissen: The first thing is, is do your homework. Get out there and clear your brush. Be a good advocate for yourself. Make sure that at least you always have 100-feet of clearance around your homes.

Meanwhile, Nissen says some San Diego fire fighters have been sent to help fight a brush fire that's raging in Riverside County.  The fire broke out shortly after 1 a.m. this morning. According to the U.S. Forest Service, four firefighters have been killed and one was critically injured in that fire.

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