Southern California fire officials agree: The ongoing drought will have a major effect on this year’s fire season.

“Our concern … is that this unprecedented drought means that we are expecting a volatile fire season this year,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said at the annual Region 1/Region 6 meeting and news conference in Diamond Bar on Monday, June 8. “This is not a typical fire season. We expect it to be above average.”

Chief Daryl Osby

In his remarks, Chief Osby told residents to make sure proper brush clearance around their homes is done early. He also noted that the Los Angeles County and Los Angeles fire departments plan to work closely during major incidents.

“We expect the critical fire season as it relates to fuel moisture by July,” Chief Osby said

The famed Superscooper aircraft from Canada will arrive Sept. 1, and Los Angeles County expects its contract helitanker to arrive in August, Chief Osby said.

The other speakers also emphasized the drought.

“It’s really important that we underscore the severity of this drought. This is an unprecedented situation,” said Mark Ghilarducci, the director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. “(This year,) we had virtually no snowpack. That has resulted in less water availability—less water in our reservoirs and less water in our overall system.”

Prior to the news conference, local, regional and state fire and emergency officials met to discuss the upcoming fire season. The summit included a presentation by Los Angeles County Fire Captain Drew Smith, the Department’s lead fire behavior analyst.

“This meeting in particular helps us … to collaborate and coordinate our efforts to best serve the public,” CAL FIRE Southern Region Chief Thom Porter said at the news conference. “What we’re doing here is making sure we’ve got all of our contact information settled, and we have shared the necessary information about what type of issues we see coming from our areas.”

Porter noted that the fire season on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains began in January this year.

“We know it’s an unprecedented year with the drought,” he said. “We know that we’re going to have to be well coordinated and collaborative this season, and I assure you that that’s going to happen.”