Wildfire Season Begins in Humboldt

 
Summer has officially begun which means less rain, longer days and trips to the beach…
But the season also brings the risk of wildfires, and with a thirty-acre blaze occurring this week near Weaverville, even the governor is taking notice about the risks of wildfires…
Newschannel 3’s Cameron Cramer has more:
 
One call from the radio and firefighters are on the move to battle a blaze---after a rainy season in the north coast the risk of summer wildfires has actually increased.
"It’s been a little bit of a later season for us, particularly up here, but because of the amount of rainfall we’ve had, the grass is high." Said Humboldt Fire District Chief Ken Woods.
It’s that tall grass that can make a wildfire cover a lot of real estate, like a fire this week near Weaverville that charred thirty acres, or the wallow fire in Arizona, which has consumed more than 500 thousand acres.
"California typically almost very year has a bad fire season, particularly in southern California with the Santa Ana winds, so it’s prudent to be prepared." Said Woods
And in order to prepare governor brown has issued an executive order giving state agencies more resources this fire season, effectively giving them more hands to battle a blaze. When a wildfire does strike, emergency crews gain assistance from many different sources, including the National Guard and even inmates.
"They do a lot of the hard work, the cutting lines---the things that our firefighters don't have to do then, and we can be on the engines and be more mobile." Said Woods
Humboldt county residents were supportive of allowing inmate work crews to fight fires.
"I think it's a good idea, you know we're shorthanded with firefighters now, and prisoners would help." Said Rick Herriott
Whether it’s firefighters or inmates, battling the blaze the costs— 64 million dollars estimated for the wallow fire---are stifling:
"The costs are tremendous when you're putting a fire engine out there, and then again getting all the resources needed to fight the fire whether it be helicopters, aircrafts, fuel costs alone, feeding people, hoses, transporting people, water, all those things are tremendous." Said Woods.