Fire chief: Placer prepared for year-round fire season

CAL FIRE/Placer County Fire Chief Brian Estes provided the Board of Supervisors with an update July 8 on what is usually considered the fire season. Estes informed the board there is "no such thing as fire season anymore." "We are in a year-round fire season, or fire year, in California," he stated. "Our department responds to an average of about 8,000 wildland fires annually across the state. Currently, to this date, we've had more than 4,000 fires actively burning, which is a little less than our yearly average over the past 10 years." Estes shared his department responded to 427 wildland fires across the county in 2024, which was an increase from annual averages. Despite that, Estes confirmed Placer experienced 1,256 total acres burned, which was a decrease from the average. "The reason for that in Placer County is we have this incredible network of fire services and emergency response," Estes said. "... What that equates to is we have this incredibly fast, initial attack response so while our number of fires may go up, our average in acres tends to be maintained or lower." CAL FIRE's mission is to contain 95 percent of fires it responds to at 10 acres or less. Estes confirmed the department has maintained a 97.8-percent success average across Placer during his tenure as fire chief. For the 2025 year, Northern California is not in a drought situation. According to Estes, Northern California is at 90-110 percent of precipitation levels and the storage of the precipitation provides critical water sources and natural barriers to stop fire progression. Estes also advised preparedness for the year includes the addition of a C-130 plane to the aviation fleet with another coming online at McClellan Air Force Base in the coming months, cameras with added AI (artificial intelligence) detection across the region and peak staffing which includes 22 frontline fire engine companies, seven Type I hand crews and four bulldozers. Following Estes' update, the board thanked CAL FIRE for its hard work in its preparedness and dedication to protecting the Placer community. No action was taken on the item, as it was solely an informational update.