In recent memory the wildfire season (which is 365 days in California) has seen really big blazes way before the time we are now on the calendar. Why? I don't know. It could have something to do with COVID-19 and how people have been confined to their homes. It could be cooler weather. Here in Washington State summer has yet to arrive. So far July in Western Washington has high temperatures not even making it into the 70's.
That however, cannot expect to hold for much longer. Be it Fourth of July fireworks or people venturing out more or a single barn burner of a series of thunderstorms with thousands of lightning strikes will change the fire season prognosis quickly.
I have not read anything or saw news reports, but firefighters have to have been making plans for how to fight fires during a pandemic. More sleeping tents and dinning areas will be needed at a minimum.
We are in the calm before the storm, but the storm certainly will be coming in 2020.
Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.
