After only the sixth completely dry October since the 1960’s in Nevada County, the wildfire season has been pretty much mitigated for the rest of the year, thanks to a sudden shift to winter conditions in November. That’s what the Division Chief for Cal-Fire’s Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit is saying. And Jim Mathias says it was a dramatic difference from a year ago. Statewide, he says Cal Fire snuffed out over 83-thousand acres, compared to over a-million a year ago. For the local unit, it was 19-hundred-43 acres, compared to five-thousand-and-one a year ago. Mathias says a lack of strong north winds last month really helped for this region. And he also singled out Nevada County residents for increasing vigilance in protecting their homes…

click to listen to Jim Mathias

And with the relatively low acreage numbers, Mathias also says local firefighters weren’t called out nearly as much to help out with major wildfires in other parts of the state. And that meant more staffing and resources available to respond more quickly to flareups in this area…

click to listen to Jim Mathias

Mathias also says that peak staffing will be reduced over the next couple of weeks. November 8th also marks the fourth anniversary of the Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise.