Led by the Camp Roberts Fire Department and assisted by the CAL FIRE San Luis Obispo unit, Diablo Canyon Fire Department and the San Luis Obispo Air Pollution Control District, almost 250-acres were burned at Camp San Luis Obispo in a prescribed burn.
It’s a high-profile area with fire crews in the county always aware due to its proximity to important county infrastructure and its high fire risk due to military training.
“The prescribed fire that we do helps mitigate the dangers for the future of the fire system,” Camp Roberts Fire Captain Nathan Ditmore said.
For Ditmore, prescribed burns are useful for three reasons: removing fuel (material that burns easily), promotion of healthy flora and fauna, and training for fire crews.
Meghan Fields with the county’s Air Pollution Control District says conditions are ideal for burns right now, not only for controlling the flames but also for controlling smoke.
“Windy conditions that aren't too high but that will get the smoke away from communities. In addition, we're also looking to make sure that the material that we're burning is not wet.”
Temperatures are also ideal.
“So starting this time of year, we're getting it before the true heat of summer, but it's dry and hot enough for the fuels to burn and for the smoke to lift up and out of surrounding communities,” Ditmore added.
With wildfires raging in other parts of California, air quality can take a hit, so mitigating the risk to nearby communities during prescribed burns is a key objective
“Making sure that smoke impacts are limited and that communities nearby these prescribed burns don't have a big impact to their health,” Fields said.
While air quality and wildfires don’t pose an immediate threat right now, if you live in San Luis Obispo County, you are encouraged to sign up for the Air Pollution Control District Air Aware text notification system to receive air quality alerts, notices of prescribed burns in the area and other fire and air related news. Additionally, the SLO Clean Air websitepromotes free air purifiers through their Clean Air Rooms Program that provides air purifiers for low-income homes in the county.
There is another prescribed burn at Morro Bay State Park June 25-27 which will include brush piles around Black Hill, including areas along Quintana Road and La Loma Avenue.
