That's a scary title...for a scary thought. But it's true. And Carlsbad is not the only community along the coast at risk. In fact much of the state of California may be at high risk due to the drought we are having, and have had for some time.

Reports vary, but the last I heard we were at only 28% of the expected rainfall in our area. And some parts of the state are worse. And it is a problem even near the coast, although fires tend to occur more frequently inland, and people in our area don't tend to get as concerned.

The other statistic is that we are having the driest season we have had for 130 years. They didn't even lift the fire warning from 2006, but continued it into 2007. We all remember the horror of the last big fire in San Diego just a few years ago, and having driven through the area I can tell you it is hard to imagine having to deal with such devastation and loss of homes and life.

California already has had a number of fires - near the Griffith Observatory in LA, on Catalina Inland, and at Lake Tahoe, and other areas, some of which are fairly significant, as well a series of smaller grass fires which mercifully did not become the large fires they could have. But the threat is VERY real.

And RIGHT NOW there are 3 large fires burning (a total of about 120,000 acres) in Fresno, Siskiyou and Santa Barbara Counties.

The threat, and the reality, of fires here in California is such that one of the natural hazards disclosures (provided by companies like Property ID) as part of the due diligence process informs buyers if the home is:

• Is in a wildland fire area (i.e., where responsibility for preventing and suppressing fire is the financial responsibility of the state) and /or
• Is in a very high fire hazard zone as determined by the State Board of Forestry (lands are classified in different ways depending on the severity and certain fire-prevention methods are required depending on severity).

Not being in a fire hazard zone does not, of course, mean that fire cannot occur, and given the current conditions the risk is even greater. And certainly there are many other parts of the country that are at risk as well.

I wanted to share my thoughts on a recent article in The Coast News (author is Jesse Scaccia - read the entire article here) about the drought and the potential for fires in Carlsbad. I thought these points really hit home and you should be aware of them. (photo courtesy of Flickr)

Three things need to be present for vegetation fires (per James Weigand, Carlsbad Fire Marshal):

1. Dry vegetation
2. Appropriate fire weather
3. An initiating event

He goes on to say that the first two conditions ARE present, and that in order to avoid a risk of fires, the initiating events must be avoided. What surprised me is how easy these events can be, especially the first two:

• Metal equipment that gets especially hot in the summer - lawn mower, chain saw sitting on the ground, a tractor that hits a rock can cause a spark and thus a fire - SOLUTION: do yard work earlier, say before 10 to avoid hot equipment, plus there tends to be a marine layer of fog then
• Hot under-area of a car parked on grass, or a golf cart - SOLUTION: don't drive or park on grass or other vegetation
• Cigarettes, cigars, barbecue coals not disposed of correctly

The article is very informative and worth reading by every resident in the area. Removing fire hazards such as dead and dry leaves, bead branches, pine needles (we have a large dead pine tree next door at the neighbors that the Fire Department has demanded they remove) is highly recommended. The other thing I did not know is that palm trees and eucalyptus are highly flammable (as are junipers and pine trees).

We all need to take responsibility for preventing fires, and to report any conditions or problems to the fire department that might be risks.