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Settle in for hot weather, firefighters prepare for Bay Area heat
Firefighters say now is the time to prepare for a bit of a Bay Area heat wave coming this week. Scorching temperatures can produce conditions prone to wildfires. And the winter rains produced plenty of vegetation or fuel for fires.
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - At Heather Farm park in Walnut Creek, people enjoyed Monday’s sunny and mild weather. While kicking around a soccer ball with her kids, Sandy Roberson shared that she's ready for some summer heat.
"I like the seasons and the changes, so I’m ready for it," Roberson said. "We have two different pools in the neighborhood, but it’s hard to get into them because it has been cold."
Luckily, according to a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service, a big warm-up is expected.
"We are expecting a pretty stark transition to happen the end of this week," said forecaster Brooke Bingaman. Bingaman said inland areas could hit the 90s.
This comes at the tail end of a June that Bingaman said has had lower than average temperatures.
"With this hot weather, it’s going to bring drier weather," Bingaman said, "so that means, especially when you mix in fireworks, there could be an increase for some new fire starts. Especially in those grassy areas that have already dried out."
Just this past weekend, there were two grass fires in Contra Costa County, including one along a hillside off Kirker Pass Road in Concord that burned near homes.
Steve Hill with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said all the rainfall in the winter and spring months certainly helped dampen the landscape, but it also led to vegetation growth.
"It’s not a time for complacency in our view and here’s why: all the rain created a bumper crop of vegetation out there," Hill said. "We are anticipating we are going to have quite a challenging wildfire season simply because of all the vegetation that’s out there getting ready to burn right now."