30 Homes Damaged Near San Diego due to Brush Fire

A brush fire broke out Sunday afternoon southeast of San Diego and has burned about 2,000 acres and damaged 30 homes and at least 15 outbuildings in the area.  Firefighters had 10 percent of the fire contained by this Monday morning, but progress is difficult due to windy conditions and about 80 homes are still threatened.  No deaths or injuries have been confirmed by authorities, but people are concerned that elderly people may not have gotten out of their homes.  The cause of the fire is still under investigation, meanwhile, some firefighters have contained about 40 percent of a separate fire in Riverside County, California, but as many as 200 homes remain threatened.  This reminded me of the disaster game we had played in lab and how I thought I had taken all the right precautions for a wildfire and the wildfire still burned almost all the homes and buildings down. These dry, windy conditions make these fires that much more dangerous. 

Brushfires or wildfires are uncontrolled fires that are fuelled by natural vegetation and when human activities occur in this natural vegetation, the number of wildfires and losses to life and property increases.  Many small fires that do not seem threatening can become much more dangerous if strong winds whip up their flames and create spot fires, which seems to be the case in the San Diego fire.  One option to resist this hazardous event from occurring is to have stricter fire ban legislation.  The downside to this is not only is it difficult to enforce, but it can also increase the risk because the fuel supply is allowed to build up overtime.  It is important to have controlled burns to burn away the existing fuel load, but it is labor intensive and can lead to uncontrollable fires.  Although little is known of the effectiveness in forecasting and fire-weather warnings, it is still important to inform the public when restrictions on outdoor fires or declared or when there are total fire bans going on.  Surveys can be done by using satellite images to detect when vegetation is "stressed" and this can indicate areas where wildfire outbreaks are most likely to occur.  Land use planning and education are essential in hazard reduction, it is important to have a road network for fire fighting equipment to be accessible and for emergency evacuation.  Local governments need to factor in wildfire hazards into the development control system especially with the severe drought that occurred this summer in much of the country.

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