With the Caldor Fire just four miles away from their home in Camino, 2008 San Jose State business alumnus Justin Ganz and his wife Anna decided to evacuate.
The Caldor Fire sparked on Aug. 14 and as of Tuesday, has been active for 23 days, is only 50% contained and has burned through more than 200,000 acres of El Dorado and Amador Counties, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) website.
Cal Fire stated on it’s website that the cause of the massive wildland fire is still under investigation.
Justin and Anna have lived in the mountains of El Dorado County since 2018.
Having lived in a high-risk fire area, the couple said they’re experienced in evacuation procedures and preparation.
On Aug. 17, Justin and Anna left extra food and water for their chickens, packed their vehicle, grabbed their dog and headed five miles away to Anna’s parents’ home.
Later that evening, a mandatory evacuation order was issued by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.
“It was very scary,” Ganz said. “I mean even for a week it was hard, really hard to get sleep at night.”
Anna’s parents were only nine miles away from the fire, but still within the town of Camino.
Justin said the family took turns checking the CodeRED app for new evacuation orders each hour.
CodeRED is an app government agencies can use to quickly communicate with the public in the event of a crisis situation, according to app developer OnSolve.
Justin was also able to verify their house hadn’t burned down and their chickens were safe by checking their security camera footage.
Though Justin said the sky was relatively smoke-free during their stay at his in-laws, the South Bay Area is still blanketed with lingering smoke from the Dixie and Caldor Fires.
With more than 900,000 acres burned and only 59% containment, the Dixie Fire is the second largest wildfire in California’s history, according to the Cal Fire website.
As it continues to burn, it may overtake the 2020 August Complex, a wildland fire sparked by lightning that burned for 86 days, to become California’s largest wildfire, according to the same website.
AirNow is an air-quality data website run by partnering groups including the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Park Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other local air quality agencies, according to its website.
Eugene Cordero, SJSU professor of meteorology and climate science, said wildfires have a net zero carbon effect, burning only carbon that had previously been extracted from the atmosphere by trees.
Cordero said the real danger lies in the fires’ impact on ecosystems and communities.
“The real problem right now in terms of the fires is the impact on local ecosystems, the impact on humans and plants and animals who are living in a smoky world,” Cordero said.
Though the burning of plant life has no real effect on global warming through greenhouse gas emissions, Cordero said the increase in regularity and severity of fires can be attributed to warmer temperatures and longer droughts.
“We are seeing the chaos globally and regions with increases in fires because of warmer temperatures and drier conditions, especially drying out the fuels on the ground,” Cordero said.
Rob Mayeda, NBC Bay Area meteorologist and SJSU meteorology lecturer said, Califiornia and other forested areas, which would normally burn and regrow at some point, are staying dry and loaded with fuels as human beings create a “wildland and urban interface.”
A wildland urban interface occurs when a wildfire results in disastrous property loss, according to Cal Fire’s website.
With more people moving into high wildfire-risk areas in mountain regions, wildland urban interface fires have become more common, according to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
“Unfortunately, we've had some very catastrophic examples of communities in the western hemisphere that are in an area that is certainly historically a place where you've had these massive fires that occurred,” Mayeda said. “But now that these are now populated areas, then so much effort has to go into suppressing those fires and so you're kind of adding to the fuel for a fire for another day.”
Eric Gomberg, Helitack fire captain at Cal Fire since 1994, said the demand for seasonal firefighters has increased since he was first hired.
Helitack teams are teams of firefighters who can be quickly transported to a fire by helicopter, which is significantly faster than an engine crew that might need half an hour to arrive or may be unable to access a fire by roads, according to the US Forest Service.
Once in the right location, Gomberg said firefighters can exit the helicopter and begin to work creating fire breaks with hand tools and can also perform rescues as well as deliver essential supplies to firefighters battling large fires such as the Dixie and Caldor Fires.
Gomberg said he was originally hired seasonally from midsummer through October, but with the increasing amount of fires, seasonal firefighters can expect to work nine months out of the year, every year.
“The droughts have gotten more serious and more frequent, which has caused drier fuels and made the fuel beds receptive over time,” Gomberg said.
Gomberg said he is usually based in Los Gatos, but he assisted with fires such as the Santa Clara Unit (SCU) Lightning Complex of 2020.
The SCU Lightning Complex burned nearly 400,000 acres for more than 44 days, according to Cal Fire’s website.
Gomberg said programs including the Vegetation Management Program are crucial to fire prevention.
The Vegetation Management Program uses prescribed and controlled burns to recreate the natural process of cleansing forested areas of excess fuel.
Along with the fire prevention program, Gomberg said homeowners in mountain enclaves must take responsibility for clearing areas around their houses.
“If you own a home that's in the wildland/urban interface, you should definitely go on the Cal Fire website and follow the directions,” Gomberg said.
“Creating areas of clearance around the home, planting native and fire resistant plants, can all protect a home from catching fire, but they can also prevent needlessly risking a firefighter’s life,” Gomberg said.
“If you own that house, if you have 150 feet of clearance around your home and you've done all the proper stuff for prevention, [firefighters] will be able to protect that home with an engine coming up that road to protect your home,” Gomberg said. “You're not putting them in danger, as much as if you didn't cut back any of your fuels and take care of your property.”
Justin Ganz recommended that homeowners in fire-prone mountain areas download the CodeRED app to check evacuation warnings and the Purple Air app to monitor smoke.
After being evacuated for 15 days, Justin and Anna said they’re happy to be home and happier still to report the skies above their mountain dwelling are smokeless and blue.
