May is also the normal time of year when burn permits are required again. A year ago, when there was less precipitation, permits were required around mid-April. The Public Information Officer for Cal Fire’s Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit, Mary Eldridge, more fuels are being torched this spring, due to much more vegetation growth and storm debris from the heavy winter. So that means they’ve already had to respond to a number of escaped burns. So she urges residents to take precautions…

click to listen to Mary Eldridge

The burn permit requirement also coincides this year with Cal Fire’s Wildfire Preparedness Week. And Eldridge says the unusually cool weather over the last few weeks has provided more opportunities for safe home hardening…

click to listen to Mary Eldridge

Meanwhile, the overall wildfire season is still much quieter so far, with the greater fuel moistures and lack of prolonged heat. State as well as federal firefighters have responded to 505 fires which have scorched only 195 acres in California. A year ago, it was a-thousand-47 fires, with over 31-hundred acres destroyed.