Is fire season really over?

Hardly.  Camp Pendleton and its surrounding communities have been extremely quiet in regards to wildland fire activity this year.  We started off the season with a bang (India Fire).  I thought for sure this would be a very bad season.  But the combination of the daily fire danger rating being in extreme all summer and the deployment of troops has created a very quiet environment for us.  You should in no way be lulled into the false sense of relief.  Fuel moistures are still at critical lows, heavy rain is not forecasted as of yet  (and I don’t mean the drizzle to 1/4 “ stuff projected this week, 10/17/04).  Fire season is still here, still a time bomb waiting to go off and catch the sleepy eyed, unprepared, complacent firefighters. 

Unfortunately we did not have a good active season to help train our newer firefighters and company officers.  This scenario coupled with the still low fuel moistures creates a critical environment for us and the rest of the local fire agencies  around us.  

Keep up the training, be aware of the changing weather, keep stocking those ice chests and out of county bags, communicate, stay informed and observe, ask questions, train, train., train…