A red flag warning is in effect for parts of San Luis Obispo County through Saturday.
KSBY News spoke with San Luis Obispo Fire and Cal Fire San Luis Obispo County officials on how they are staying prepared this week.
San Luis Obispo Fire Battalion Chief John MacDonald says his department stays in contact with the National Weather Service daily when a red flag warning is issued. Those warnings are active when conditions could lead to wildland fires.
MacDonald said they staffed up their fire personnel and equipment on Thursday.
The fire department will be patrolling the area to make sure there are no fires in the community.
“On a normal day-to-day basis, we run 14 personnel in the city out of four stations,” said MacDonald. “Today, we've staffed a patrol with two additional people in that patrol to take us to 16 for the day, and they'll be patrolling throughout the city during the high heat of the day.”
Batallion Chief MacDonald says other agencies use the Master Mutual Aid Program during an emergency.
“We assist each other as necessary," he said. "So, if we had a fire here in the community of San Luis Obispo and we needed other resources, we would rely on our partner partnering agencies and Cal Fire to assist us with that.”
Cal Fire San Luis Obispo County Division Chief Mike Salas told KSBY News that they are fully staffed while the red flag warning is in effect.
Salas said fires tend to occur towards the summer months when the vegetation loses its fuel moisture and dries out.
“We'll get an uptick of fires in the latter parts of June and July,” said Salas. “That's because the grass crop has lost a lot of its fuel moisture has already browned out and it's ready to burn.”
Fire officials recommend cutting weeds, bushes, and trees before the summer season and having bags packed with personal items in case of a fire.
“If you live in a fire-prone area — have some bags packed with your personal belongings, things that you want to take with you, like birth certificates, any type of financial reports, you know, stuff like that, and have that ready to go,” Salas said.
For more tips on how to be prepared in the event of a fire, visit prepareslo.org and slocity.org.
