October 22, 2019 - The weekly CAL FIRE report for Monday, October 21, 2019.

From the CAL FIRE Information Center, I’m Amy Head with the CAL FIRE Report for Monday, October 21, 2019.

Last week, despite some critical fire weather conditions over the weekend, firefighters saw a decrease in large wildfire activity compared to the spike in activity a couple of weeks ago. In total 123 new wildfires started within CAL FIRE’s jurisdiction over the past 7 days with the majority of those being contained at under 10 acres.

However, a few of those fires did grow into significant wildfires, the most significant of which was the Real Fire in Santa Barbara County west of El Capitan. The Real Fire started on Thursday, and fanned by some very gusty winds quickly grew to 420 acres in just a few hours. Thanks to an aggressive initial response, firefighters were able to get a handle on the Real Fire and stop the forward spread. Firefighters have reached full containment on the Real Fire as of this morning.

And a couple of quick updates on some of the larger fires that firefighters have been battling for the past couple of weeks: We’ll start with the Saddle Ridge Fire in Sylmar in Los Angeles County. Firefighters continued to make great progress on the Saddle Ridge Fire over the past week, and as of this morning it is 89% contained at just under 8,800 acres.

And in Mariposa County, firefighters continue to patrol for hot spots on the Briceburg Fire which started north of Midpines on October 6. As of this morning’s update, the Briceburg Fire is 5,563 acres & 98% contained.

Switching over to our Fire Weather forecast for this week, we’re in for some more windy weather over the next several days. Today, we’re expecting to see gusty winds and low humidity in the Sacramento Valley as well as the Diablo Mountains. And then by mid-week, we are also forecast to see several days of critically high winds and very low humidity again in the Sacramento Valley and Diablo Mountains, but also into the higher elevations of Sonoma, Lake and Napa Counties. And finally, on Thursday and into Friday, we could see another wind event in Southern California, this time across the Inland Empire and San Diego County.

During all of this, we’re expecting to see higher than normal temperatures and no precipitation. It’s very important that everybody take extra steps when you’re working, recreating, or even driving outdoors during these windy events because any new fire starts could easily take off and become major firefights.

And finally, Halloween is right around the corner, and homes around the state are beginning to look a little spookier in anticipation of the big day. But did you know that decorations are the first thing to ignite in 800 reported home fires each year? Now that’s scary. But a few simple steps can help reduce your chances of this and other tragedies occurring due to decorations this Halloween.

First, be sure keep all decorations sensibly placed so that they don’t block access to any escape routes from your home. Having lots of decorations may look festive, but anything blocking a window or a doorway can impede your family’s escape if an emergency like a fire were to happen.

Certain decorations can be much more flammable than others, so be sure to choose which materials you use carefully. Dry cornstalks and other decorative plants can ignite just like dry grass, and materials like crepe paper can be just as flammable, so avoid using those when decorating your haunted house.

And lastly, use LED candles instead of flame candles. One third of all decoration fires are started by a candle, so why take a risk? Many LED candles even have a flickering effect so even the most observant ghouls won’t know the difference.

For more tips on how you can celebrate this Halloween safely, be sure to visit our website at fire.ca.gov.

And that’s the latest on the Fire Situation in California. I’m Amy Head.
Source: CAL FIRE