Experts Warn Of Active Wildland Fire Season

The world watched in horror last year as some of America's worst wildfires in history took a record number of lives, cost billions of dollars in damages, destroyed one whole town, closed highways and disrupted commerce. Now government agencies responsible for predicting wildfire potential are saying the West Coast this year should be preparing for a repeat of last year's devastation.

Experts warn of active wildland fire season

Nothing we can do except be prepared for the possibility. Just like the possibility of heavy snow, high heat, strong winds, thick fog, torrential rain, or heavy traffic.

Nothing we can do except be prepared for the possibility. Just like the possibility of heavy snow, high heat, strong winds, thick fog, torrential rain, or heavy traffic.

I agree.

I just found it interesting that experts are claiming even a worse fire season than last year. We lived in the mountains of central California for 14 years, and were in the thick of it for two of California's largest wildland fires at the time ... the Telegraph and the Rim fire.

In fact, when we bought our 9 acres of woods in 2004 there was still retardant residue around the house from the Ridge fire that virtually came up to our property line.

It's a different way of life when you live in constant fear of some yahoo coming up from the flatlands and carelessly tossing a cigarette out the window, or who feels he just has to have a campfire because he's camping in the woods ... in 95-degree summer weather.

We're glad we got out when we did. When I look at recent Google Earth photos of our property I can see that the drought has killed more than half of the trees on our property, and everywhere around us. Multiply that by all of California and Western United States, and you have a tinderbox just waiting for a spark.

I was out in California a bunch last year during the wildfires. The smoke was unbelievable.

Driving in fire zones is good if your tanker is filled with a non-flammable liquid. Not so good if hauling gasoline.

On second thought, just avoid active fire zones.

Nothing we can do except be prepared for the possibility.

The best thing you can do is know where the wildfires are and make sure you're not being routed through a dangerous area. You approach it almost the same as you do the weather - you get updates on current fire conditions and look at their forecasts for the coming days.