Firefighters were busy this weekend putting out vegetation fires all over San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties.
“Yesterday we had seven fires in San Luis Obispo County from California Valley all the way to Highway 58 to Lake Nacimiento,” said Eric Shalhoob, Battalion Chief, CAL Fire on Sunday.
Just minutes after meeting up with CAL Fire, a KSBY reporter was there when calls went out on the radio of a vegetation fire that broke out on the Nipomo mesa.
“First vegetation fire of the day. We have been running routine calls medical aides and other emergencies,” said Battalion Chief Shalhoob.
The roadside fire broke out around 1:15 p.m. Sunday. Firefighters extinguished the fire before it spread too close to a nearby home on the corner of Mesa View Drive and Poquito Place.
“It was started probably by something dragging from a car and it was a spark that caused the fire. So just reminding everyone that something as small as one spark can ignite a larger fire,” Battalion Chief Shalhoob explained.
“Right now all areas are ready to burn there are some areas that are green, however they are just as ready to burn as the areas that are not green. It’s very deceiving, so people still need to pay attention,” he said.
Paying attention means clearing your property of those tall grasses and officials advise people not to mow the lawn after 10:00 a.m.
Some other tips include cleaning out debris around homes, trimming low hanging branches, cleaning dry leaves out of the gutter, piles of firewood away from the house, and keeping only minimal green vegetation around the house.
Click here for a map of the fires burning in California.
