The Santa Ana winds – warm, dry gusts that sweep through Southern California yearly – helped drive a wildfire on Tuesday amidst evacuation orders affecting some 4,000 people.
TEMECULA (California), Nov 1 A Southern California wildfire fuelled by desert winds burned 2,487 acres (1,010 hectares) and prompted evacuation orders for more than 4,000.
Cal Fire-Butte County will team up with the California Department of Water Resources and California State Parks to conduct a controlled burn of 163 acres in the Loafer Creek State Recreation Area east of Oroville on Monday.
“The project aims to restore the Coastal Prairie Plant Community in Andrew Molera State Park that has diminished due to competition from non-native grasses, encroachment by scrub, and lack of frequent, low intensity fires,” the department’s Friday press release said. “The reintroduction of fire to the landscape also has the potential to enhance fire safety by reducing high fuel density.”