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Santa Ana Windstorm Raises Fire Threat In San Diego County

 October 10, 2019 at 10:27 AM PDT

Speaker 1: 00:00 The mountains and valleys of San Diego County are now under a red flag warning, extremely low humidity and strong winds are expected to last into Friday evening when Santa Ana winds begin to blow in October in San Diego County. There's only one thing we all begin to think about and that's the threat of wildfire here to talk about wildfire preparedness and what to do if a blase breaks out is Cal fire captain Isaac Sanchez and captain Sanchez. Welcome. Thank you for having us. When it comes to being prepared for a wildfire, what are some things that people should be doing right now? Speaker 2: 00:36 Right now, hopefully what they've done is they've been hitting those, those messages and those warnings and have done their defensible space clearance and have their evacuation plans both for themselves and their families together. Um, but uh, if they haven't done that, uh, you've got to start getting that stuff identified. You gotta register for the evacuation alerts@alertsandiego.org. Um, and, and, and be ready in the event that the knock on the door comes Speaker 1: 01:00 now with changes happening in our climate, has CallFire changed or updated any of its advice on preparedness? Speaker 2: 01:08 Um, you know, I don't know that we've changed it or, uh, it's, it's pretty much the same message at it's always been a preparedness is an ongoing thing. It's not one and done. Uh, it takes many steps. It takes time and a, again, you know, five minutes after the, the, the knock on the door comes or the alert, uh, comes to evacuated is not that time. Uh, so, you know, this is definitely a time of year when you should have been ready and, and continue to maintain that, uh, that preparedness. Speaker 1: 01:33 Now, hundreds of thousands of people we've been hearing about in Northern California are without power because of the risk of wildfire that utility lines pose. Apparently SDG and E has similar plans to shut down power to some fire prone areas in the East County. If the fire risk becomes too great. Does Cal fire have any concerns about that decision by utilities? Speaker 2: 01:56 You know, what a STG, any, a as an independent company, they, they, they can operate and do things that they feel are, are correct for them and, and their industry. And in Cal fire does not have a position on it. Uh, that is, that is a different agency. We do not, uh, unnecessarily, um, you know, jump into other folks business when it comes to a, um, you know, the way they operate in, in, uh, uh, you know, as a, as a, uh, the utility in, in San Diego County. Um, you know, they're there, they're free to make their decisions and, and, uh, um, you know, we, we respond to the fires and the SDG [inaudible] is making attempts to, uh, prevent fires Speaker 1: 02:30 having no power in an area. Would that conceivably make Cal fires job any more difficult? Speaker 2: 02:37 No, not necessarily. Our fire stations are, are designed and built, uh, and reinforced to the point that they can maintain, uh, without, uh, you know, outside power. They have generators on board, um, at the, at the fire stations. They, uh, uh, the idea here is, is that in the event of a disaster, uh, whatever that may be, whatever the reasoning for the, the power not being, um, you know, in service, uh, we're able to maintain a level of service to the public that, uh, absolutely has a reasonable expectation that we will respond. Uh, regardless of the conditions. Does it impact people's ability to evacuate in any way if they don't have any power? You know, I, again, I, I don't know that, that, that it does or does not, uh, you know, uh, this is all part of the preparedness process. You ha, you know, you gotta have your cell phones charged up. Speaker 2: 03:19 You've got to have, um, an ability to receive those messages and maintain that situational awareness. Uh, prior to the event ever, ever occurring. Captain Sanchez, is there more of an emphasis now than ever before on being able to shelter in place if there's a wildfire? I don't believe so. A shelter in place has always been a tactic that we utilize. It's a tactic that is a, um, is very specific and, and is not, uh, a one size fits all. Um, tactic. Nothing is a one size fits all tactic. Uh, and, and, and where, uh, shelter and places and appropriate, uh, tactic to utilize in response to a wildfire. We absolutely have and we'll continue to use that. But it is, again, it is not a one size fits all. Uh, and, and the public needs to, to be prepared to evacuate and not just to shelter in place. Speaker 2: 04:06 How would you need to have prepared in advance to make shelter in place? A viable option as far as the CallFire or the, the community, the community? Well, the community, uh, you know, again, it's, it's a, it's a very, uh, situational decision to make. Um, preparedness is something that that is an ongoing issue. Uh, you know, again, an ongoing concern that the community needs to take very seriously. Uh, but in the event that we do shelter in place, uh, essentially what we're asking them to do is, is write it out with us. You know, in, in, in, in the case of a shelter in place situation, uh, we will have resources available to, uh, defend that, that particular portion, uh, that particular area that we're asking folks to shelter. We will dedicate resources to them to ensure that the fire does not, uh, further impact that community. Speaker 2: 04:50 Uh, but as far as the public is concerned, um, it's not something they should be planning for to sit in the house and, or to sit in us in a specific area. It's a very specific tactic. It calls for very specific conditions, um, mainly that they are facing more danger, uh, by being out on the roads and trying to evacuate. Then if they, if they stay in a, in a, in a designated area that we're, we're requesting what kind of ramp up does Cal fire make when there's a red flag warning in San Diego? You know, the, the big thing here is, is we want to have as many resources available to us immediately. Um, and it's not just fire engines and hand crews and, and, and aircraft, it's, you know, individuals like myself are considered resources to, to the department and we can plug in and, and, uh, contribute immediately, uh, should a fire break out. Speaker 2: 05:36 And so, so we have up staffed our, our fire engines or our, uh, resources that aren't necessarily in service on a day to day basis, but they are for, for instances like this, a hand crews have been preformed into strike team formation for easier dispatch and, and, uh, um, command and control. Uh, the aircraft is available, like it always is out of the Ramona air attack base and out of Gillespie field. And then, like I said, the individuals like myself are being identified and held on and a, um, essentially being positioned to respond to an incident should one break out. I've been speaking with, uh, Cal fire, captain Isaac Sanchez and captain Sanchez. Thank you. Thank you.

The first Santa Ana windstorm of the fall will elevate fire danger and other public safety hazards in the San Diego County mountains and valleys Thursday and Friday.
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