Early Summer Firestorm Foreshadows Record Fire Season
Nearly 1 million acres burned in month-long siege
For the residents of Paradise, nestled in the Sierras east of Chico, June and July were far removed from the sedate charm of mountain living.
The town of 25,000 was one of many communities saved by California's firefighters in their battle against a disaster that has already made the 2008 fire season a record-breaker.
According to CAL FIRE statistics, the 2008 Firestorm that ran from approximately June 11th, with the outbreak of the Humboldt Fire, through the end of July consumed more than one million acres - the most ever for a single state fire incident.
During the five-week span, more than 2,000 separate fires burned from Bakersfield to the Oregon border. Most of the blazes were sparked by more than 8,000 separate dry lightning strikes. Much of the response centered around the Central Coast, where multiple fires raged through the Big Sur area, and Butte County, where numerous mountain communities, including Paradise, were evacuated in the face of some of the most extreme fire conditions in memory.
As usual, California's first responders answered the call with every ounce of courage, skill and commitment they could muster. At its height, more than 20,000 firefighters were on the front lines battling the fires. Their efforts saved Paradise, Big Sur and a raft of smaller rural communities in the path of the fires. Thousands of citizens were removed from harm's way through voluntary and mandatory evacuations.
Only one civilian died in the fires - a resident of Concow in Butte County whom authorities believe did not heed evacuation orders. While several dozen firefighters suffered injuries, none were life threatening. And no firefighters died as a direct result of the fires, though one 63-year-old volunteer suffered a heart attack while laying hose in Mendocino County.
The 2008 Firestorm represents the third major fire incident in California in the past five years. More importantly, it graphically demonstrates the year-round, statewide risk to life and property posed by devastating wildland fires. The concept of "fire season" is increasingly antiquated in an era of ever-drier weather conditions and increasing development in the wildland-urban interface.
California Professional Firefighters has been in the middle of the effort to bring attention to the issues raised by these and other fires through its involvement in the Blue Ribbon Fire Task Force. During the fires, the Task Force issued news advisories was instrumental in pressing the case for more resources - personnel, equipment and training - to deal with the state's wildland fire risk.